“The Warders’ Block W1 was built in 1851 in the Victorian Georgian style as the first of three rows of terrace houses designed to house the Warders serving at the Fremantle Prison and their families. The Warders’ Cottages represent places of significant cultural heritage and are registered on the National Heritage List. They are associated with the development of the Convict Establishment, a precinct that links the Fremantle Prison, the Cottages and the Fremantle Court house and Police Station.

The Warders Hotel
The challenge facing any adaptive re-use of such sensitive heritage is to ensure that not only does the fabric get retained but that the essence of the building is not lost. We approached the development of the hotel with this in mind and wanted to create an immersive heritage experience where patrons are well aware that they have just entered into a building from 1851. Modern elements required to make the stay luxurious have been added but do not swamp or hide the historic fabric. Built in beds offer a serviced hub which keep the walls free to exhibit surface mounted copper conduits that facilitate soft wall mounted task lights.
Eleven suites have been created, six on the upper floor and five on the lower floor all with their original doors and windows. The remaining ground floor rooms have been used to house the hotel reception and a small aperitivo bar, the Gimlet, named after a cocktail of gin and lemon or lime created to ensure English naval officers consistently received their vitamin C ration.
The internal staircases have been sealed up and a secondary vertical circulation system developed to the rear of the cottages. The void created over the internal stairs is used as a services riser to allow for the concealed distribution of water, electrical, data and mechanical systems.

Emily Taylor
The 450 person bar and restaurant is named after Emily Taylor, an East India Company ship that serviced the spice routes and inspired the pan Asian menu. In turn this ship was named after the owner’s wife of the same name that inspired the mural ‘Who is Emily Taylor’ by portrait artist Tessa MacKay.
The rich nautical heritage of the port city was the prompt for the main structure of the restaurant which references the trussed warehouses that stored goods in the days before containerisation. The trusses also reference the history of the site by following old fence lines, further reinforced by jarrah inlays on the floor.
The Imported Chinese face bricks that line the walls of the restaurant represent the ballast ships carried, the bamboo embossed soffits, jade green quartzite bar and emerald green tiles reference the exotic Asian influences discovered on the east-west trade routes.
At the macro level an overriding architectural motif on site was to carve away the northern component of the restaurant building creating a garden area and maintaining the visual connection and setting values between the old Fremantle prison and the rear of the cottages.