Sunday Telegraph - 25/01/2009

Sunday Telegraph - 25/01/2009
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Grand in name, grand in history and presence

Greg Hackett visits a luxury hotel with links to colonial Melbourne.

The historic Grand Hotel, on the corner of Spencer and Flinders streets in Melbourne's CBD, was built on the site of the city's first racetrack.

Back then, it was known as She Oak Hill and Melbourne was merely the colony of Port Phillip. The site's potential was obvious, however, and in 1833 Melbourne's founder, John Batman, built his home there.

Two years after his death in 1839, Batman's cottage became the office of colony superintendent Charles La Trobe and Police Magistrate William Lonsdale. Horse racing moved to Flemington in 1840 as the site became the city's seat of power.

The present building was erected in 1891 as the head office of Victoria's railways. Because cause of the huge reliance on railways, it was again the state's most important site.

In 1985, the transport ministry moved and the grand old building was in limbo until it was converted into a hotel in 1998.

Last year, it was rebadged by Accor as the MGallery Grand Hotel. A hotel qualifies for MGallery by having one or more of four principal elements: vision, design, history and location.

The Grand is in esteemed company. Other MGalleries include the Grand Hotel Beauvau in Marseille, the Hotel Baltimore in Paris and Lyon's Hotel le Royal. Melbourne's heritage-listed Grand Hotel has 102 suites and the renovators have skilfully introduced modern five-star luxury while retaining the building's historic charm.

The sandstone walls and wrought-iron lacework and, inside, the carpet, paintwork, fretwork, wallpaper, stained-glass windows and chandeliers all inform the building's character. The 110m long hallways on each floor resemble the Flemington straight. The story about West Indies cricketers playing a practice game in one of them seems believable.

The rooms, once the offices of Victoria's most powerful men, including Robert Menzies when he ran the state's railways, each have a mezzanine floor, with the bedroom as a loft. All rooms have broadband and wireless Internet access, LCD TVs (some with DVD players) and N'espresso machines. The bathrooms have L'Occitane amenities, while the indoor pool and gym are in a tranquil courtyard setting.

The RAB restaurant, named after the building's original title, Railways Administrative Building, has a special menu of dishes popular in Melbourne during the 1880s goldrush era.

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