25 Sydney Hotels Carved from Woolstores, Banks and Pubs

Sydney’s first hospital site, the old General Post Office, a Walsh Bay finger wharf, and the Paramount Pictures head office in Surry Hills.

Sydney turned its woolstores, its finger wharves, the old Post Office, and a string of 19th-century pubs into hotels. This list has the hotel on the site of the colony’s first hospital in The Rocks, the sandstone General Post Office that is now the Fullerton, the Walsh Bay wharf you sleep out over the water on, and the Paramount Pictures head office in Surry Hills.

The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Where a hotel’s own site could be confirmed, its name links there; the rest are listed without one.

The Rocks

The Russell Boutique Hotel · The Rocks

The Russell is in an 1887 Victorian building at the north end of George Street, in The Rocks, under a landmark circular corner turret. It has run as small-scale lodging in The Rocks for more than a century, and keeps a rooftop garden in the old building.

Harbour Rocks Hotel MGallery · The Rocks

The Harbour Rocks stands on the site of Sydney’s first hospital, set up in 1788 as a tent hospital for the arriving First Fleet. The present hotel takes in 19th-century warehouse and terrace buildings on the slope of The Rocks. It joined Accor’s MGallery collection in 2013 and trades on a resident-ghost story known as ‘Eric’.

The Mercantile Hotel · The Rocks

The Mercantile is a Federation-style pub built in 1915 on George Street, in The Rocks, and heritage-listed. It has long been one of Sydney’s best-known Irish pubs, with rooms on the upper floors.

The Australian Heritage Hotel · The Rocks

The Australian Heritage Hotel is in a Federation-era building of 1914 on Cumberland Street, in The Rocks. It is one of the few surviving Federation pubs in the area, with boutique rooms above the bar.

Pubs and wharves

Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel · Millers Point

The Lord Nelson is a sandstone building in Millers Point from 1841, licensed as a pub in the early 1840s. It claims to be Sydney’s oldest continually licensed hotel, a title a couple of nearby pubs also claim. It runs its own brewery on site, with beers including Three Sheets.

Hotel Palisade · Millers Point

The Palisade is a six-storey Federation Free Classical pub built around 1912-1916 for Millers Point waterside workers, and heritage-listed. It reopened in 2016 after a refurbishment, with the Henry Deane bar in the upper floors.

Pier One Sydney Harbour · Walsh Bay

Pier One is built on a timber finger wharf at Walsh Bay, put up around 1912 as part of Sydney’s working harbour. Much of the hotel sits out over the water on the original wharf structure. It runs within Marriott’s Autograph Collection.

Ovolo Woolloomooloo · Woolloomooloo

Ovolo Woolloomooloo takes part of the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf, built between 1911 and 1915 and once among the largest timber-piled wharves in the world. The wharf was saved from demolition after a public campaign and union green bans around 1987-1991.

Grand names of the old city

The Fullerton Hotel Sydney · CBD

The Fullerton is in the former General Post Office, a sandstone building by the colonial architect James Barnet, built in stages between 1866 and 1891. Its clock tower was taken down during the Second World War and put back in 1964. It traded as the Westin Sydney before taking the Fullerton name in 2019.

InterContinental Sydney · Circular Quay

The InterContinental takes in the sandstone former Treasury Building, begun around 1849-1851 and extended later in the century. A hotel tower was built above the restored Treasury and opened in 1985.

The Grace Hotel · CBD

The Grace is in the Grace Building, a Commercial Gothic skyscraper finished in 1930 for the retailer Grace Bros and modeled on Chicago’s Tribune Tower. The building was requisitioned during the Second World War for the defence forces. It was converted and opened as the Grace Hotel in 1997.

Capella Sydney · CBD

Capella is in the sandstone former Department of Education building, put up in stages from 1912. It opened as Capella Sydney in 2023, after a major heritage restoration.

QT Sydney · CBD

QT Sydney is in the heritage State Theatre, opened in 1929, and the former Gowings department store next door. It opened as QT Sydney in 2012.

Used to be something else

Kimpton Margot Sydney · CBD

The Kimpton Margot is in the former Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board building, an Art Deco landmark finished in 1939. It opened as the Primus Hotel in 2015, then rebranded in 2021 as Australia’s first Kimpton.

The Porter House Hotel MGallery · CBD

The Porter House is built around the heritage Porter House building on Castlereagh Street, from the 1870s, with a new tower above it. It opened in 2022 as part of Accor’s MGallery collection.

Establishment Hotel · CBD

The Establishment is above the Establishment bar, in a restored 19th-century George Street building run by the Merivale group. It opened in 2000 as one of Sydney’s first design-led boutique hotels.

Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbour · Pyrmont

The Ovolo 1888 is in a former wool store built in 1888 in Pyrmont, with the original ironbark columns and timber beams kept. It was an early Sydney heritage conversion, known before as the 1888 Hotel.

The Old Clare Hotel · Chippendale

The Old Clare joins the former Carlton & United Breweries administration building to the old Clare Hotel pub next door, on Kensington Street. It opened as the Old Clare in 2015, alongside the Central Park redevelopment.

Paramount House Hotel · Surry Hills

Paramount House is built within the former Paramount Pictures Australia head office in Surry Hills, a 1940s film-exchange building. It opened as a hotel in 2018, keeping the building’s industrial brick.

Mansions and terraces of the inner suburbs

Simpsons of Potts Point · Potts Point

Simpsons is in a Victorian mansion on Challis Avenue, in Potts Point, built in 1892. It was turned into a boutique hotel, keeping its stained glass and period detail.

Spicers Potts Point · Potts Point

Spicers Potts Point was made from three adjoining restored Victorian terrace houses in Potts Point. It opened in 2019 as Spicers Retreats’ first Sydney hotel.

Little Albion · Surry Hills

Little Albion pairs a restored early-1900s heritage building in Surry Hills with a modern extension. It runs as a boutique guest house within the Crystalbrook Collection.

The Hughenden · Woollahra

The Hughenden is in an 1876 Victorian Italianate mansion on Queen Street, in Woollahra. It became a boutique hotel in the 1990s and has long ties to Sydney’s arts and literary scene.

The Grand National Hotel by Saint Peter · Paddington

The Grand National is in a 19th-century Paddington pub, the Grand National Hotel on Underwood Street, locally heritage-listed. It reopened on 31 January 2025, with boutique rooms above the chef Josh Niland’s Saint Peter restaurant.

Vulcan Hotel · Ultimo

The Vulcan was built in 1894 as a workers’ pub in Ultimo, near the old Pyrmont and Darling Harbour industrial zone. It was restored and runs as a small heritage boutique hotel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.

What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a woolstore, a wharf, a post office, a bank, or a 19th-century pub with a past. Comfort alone did not qualify a hotel.

Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.

Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Sydney leave by road or train, to the Blue Mountains, the Hunter Valley, and the coast, or by ferry across the harbour. The Rocks, Circular Quay, and CBD hotels sit most central.

Do the small hotels book out faster than the grand ones?
Usually. The small inner-suburb houses — Simpsons of Potts Point, the Hughenden, the Vulcan — hold few rooms and fill first. Book those well ahead.