Ace Hotel Sydney, Australia
Heritage, Australian Design, and Creative Culture Meet in the Heart of Surry Hills
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● A historic Surry Hills building transformed into a distinctly Australian expression of Ace Hotel’s creative, community-driven approach to hospitality.
● Interiors rich in timber, terracotta, ochre tones, textured materials, and references to the Australian landscape, creating spaces that feel layered rather than styled.
● A ground floor conceived as a genuine neighbourhood living room, complemented by rooftop restaurant Kiln high above the Sydney skyline.
A Building with Memory
Ace Hotel Sydney feels as though it belongs in Surry Hills. Set within the historic Tyne Building, once connected to Australia’s ceramic industry, the hotel works with the character of its architecture rather than disguising it. The past remains visible, but this is no heritage recreation. Instead, the building becomes the foundation for a contemporary interpretation of Australian culture and design. History provides the texture. Sydney supplies the energy.
An Australian Design Language
The interiors draw deeply from the colours and materials of the Australian landscape. Ochre, terracotta, warm timber, stone, and earthy textiles create an atmosphere that feels rugged and tactile rather than polished. References to Australia’s landscapes and cultural history appear throughout, interpreted through contemporary furniture, art, craft, and material choices rather than obvious motifs. Nothing feels imported wholesale from another Ace. This one belongs here.
The Lobby as Living Room
Ace has always understood that the most interesting hotel spaces are often the ones shared with the city. The ground floor operates less like a conventional lobby and more like a Surry Hills living room. Locals arrive for coffee, guests open laptops, cocktails replace flat whites as afternoon becomes evening, and DJs, talks, exhibitions, and cultural events continuously change the rhythm of the space. Hotel and neighbourhood overlap naturally. That is exactly the point.
Rooms Made for Living
Guestrooms continue the same warm, residential approach. Timber, terrazzo, textured fabrics, carefully chosen lighting, turntables, and vintage-inspired details create rooms designed for settling into rather than simply sleeping in. The aesthetic is relaxed and slightly raw, balancing contemporary design with the comfortable imperfection that has always been part of Ace’s identity. Put on a record. Stay awhile.
Kiln Above the City
At the top of the hotel, Kiln changes the perspective. The rooftop restaurant takes inspiration from Australian modernism and the colours of the bush, with clay, sandstone, eucalyptus, and muted greens framing expansive views across Sydney. Fire plays a central role in the kitchen, where local produce is treated with the same combination of experimentation and informality found throughout the hotel. As daylight disappears and the skyline begins to glow, Kiln becomes one of the hotel’s defining spaces. Sydney, seen through an Ace lens.
Why It Works
Ace Hotel Sydney succeeds because it doesn’t simply transplant the Ace formula into Australia. It absorbs Surry Hills, the building’s industrial history, Australian materials, art, music, food, and creative culture and turns them into something unmistakably local. More neighbourhood gathering place than conventional luxury hotel, it proves that great hospitality can feel designed without ever feeling staged.
