The Whelan’s Strathfield Hotel has been held within the Whelan family since it was built in 1926. It is located directly opposite Strathfield Railway Station, and was built to service the needs of the local community and railway travelers.
The hotel requires substantial amenity upgrades and the new built form has allowed the replacement of the poorly serviced hotel rooms at the rear with new hotel suites facing a private landscaped courtyard, above a clearly defined ground floor service and loading area.
The apartment building contains 65 studio, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments primarily orientated away from the Railway Station and taking advantage of the northly aspect to the rear of the site.
An extensive investigation of the existing building fabric has been undertaken in collaboration with the heritage consultant, retaining the key elements which define the heritage characteristics of the existing building.
With the existing building having such a strong formal appearance, the new works have been deliberately understated to take a back seat to the existing building, both spatially and in terms of design. The simple modulation relies on breaking down the form of the apartment building into similar scaled elements to the heritage façade, incorporating robust materials such as weathered steel and the face brickwork base.
The apartment building is separated from the existing hotel by a glazed 2 storey link providing a clear break between the two built forms.
The removal of the drive-through bottle shop has enabled the insertion of new single storey retail tenancies on Everton Road to continue the active street frontage, with a roof top garden accessible from the hotel rooms. This also allows the hotel the retain its stand-alone status as the principle built form in the local retail precinct.