Postcards Magazine 2009

Postcards Magazine 2009
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Weekend in the City

When the city was at its prosperous peak and the growing metropolis was commonly referred to as 'Marvelous Melbourne', one industry reigned supreme - rail.

It was the 1890s and Australia's rapidly growing states had been linked by a regular railway network for less than a decade and a viaduct linking the Melbourne's main train stations, Flinders and Spencer Street had just been completed.

In this era a grand and ornate office building, the city's largest, was imagined.

Italianate in design, four floors high a full city block wide, the upper levels were adorned with elegant statues while the luxuriously wide corridors were curiously fashioned for a Cobb & Co coach to pass.

Completed in 1891, the simply named 'Railway Administration Building', a neighbour to the busy Spencer Street Station, was suitably impressive corporate home for men and women of the Victorian Railways and remained so up until the mid 1980s.

While rail, sadly, is no longer king, we still have this grand building from Melbourne's golden age.

Retaining many of its original features, what was once a workplace for Vic Rail employees, has been carefully restored and evolved into a now inviting, elegant hotel, The Grand.

Built original with towering 18 feet high ceilings, the hotel's accommodation is presented as stylish loft style suites. With modern fittings and features, the ground level offers living space with well equipped kitchen for self-catering, dining space and lounge stocked with CD, DVD and LCD screen. At the top of the stairs is a streamlined ensuite and open-plan bedroom with the requisite luxuriously dressed kingsize bed.  The loft suites show hints of hotel's past, with a smattering of black and white images from the buildling's previous life.

The garden courtyard between the building towers plays home to a lap pool, spa and gym. Pulling in the natural light (and just slight rumbling of the passing trains!), through the retractable roof and sliding glass doors, the hotel's recreation area is an inviting location for a light workout.

Situated on the ground floor, past a shelf-lined library for guests to choose a title or two, is the Grand's restaurant and bar, 'RAB'. A fun, slick name derived from the building's original descriptive title the 'Railway Administrative Buildilng'. The bar has a cosy and clubby vibe, perfect for a quiet drink before dinner. Tucked behind the bar is an intimate restaurant with a menu featuring an array of Victorian cuisine, particularly across the wine and cheese selections.

The menu highlight is a perfectly formed chocolate soffle. The 12-minute interval required for this mouth-watering dessert is the ideal time to take a stroll and enjoy the hotel's grand central staircase. Leading up to the residential apartments, the staircase features intricately crafted wrought iron balustrades finished with elegant curved wood scrolls. The staircase provides an elegant frame to a poignant wood paneled WW1 memorial that dates back to the Grand's former guise as the railway's administration centre. Eloquently dedicated to the 'Members of Railways Hotel Office Staff who answered the calls to arms, it recalls the names of those who served and those who were lost from amongst the ranks of the Vic Rail staff. Above the memorial, original etched glass windows, still resplendent with the 'VR' emblem, overlook the Spencer Street, rail yards and beyond to the modern corporate homes springing up in Melbourne's Docklands precinct.

The Grand has cleverly blended the requisite elements of a luxury hotel with the building's proud past and historic features.

Amongst the glowing tributes by honeymooning and anniversary celebrating couples, local and international visitors in the pages of the Guestbook, one comment stands apart, "This is quite different from when I worked here 36 years ago".

Different indeed!

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