A t the heart of The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts is a dedication to preserving heritage buildings and their stories. The 2001 opening of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore heralded a new chapter for the city’s former General Post Office that served as ‘Mile Zero’ for addresses in Singapore.
Now the brand has crossed the Pacific with the opening of The Fullerton Hotel Sydney, breathing new life into one of Australia’s heritage icons: Sydney’s former General Post Office. Completed in 1874, the majestic sandstone structure is regarded as one of Australia’s finest examples of Victorian Italian Renaissance architecture, and was once as synonymous with Sydney as the Eiffel Tower is with Paris. Its grand clock tower and vaulted granite arcades have long been points of rendezvous for politicians and well-heeled travellers. Situated in the heart of the city’s finance and fashion districts, it is a short walk from other landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Botanic Garden and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, making it the ideal destination for a business or leisure trip.
In the soaring glass atrium, destination restaurant The Place showcases fresh produce and fusion flavours through a menu of modern Australian cuisine and signature Southeast Asian dishes
In preparation for the hotel’s October 2019 opening, The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts has engaged more than 30 stonemasons to carry out a meticulous, chemical-free clean of the building’s ornate sandstone facade; the remediation works took 38,000 hours over nine months. ‘The hotel has a rich history, which we plan to conserve and showcase so that guests can enjoy a hospitality experience steeped in character, culture and heritage,’ says Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale, General Manager of The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts.
In keeping with this mandate, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney offers complimentary heritage tours to guests and members of the community. Designed to share the building’s fascinating history and the key role it played in Australia’s early life, the tours highlight the building’s intricate stonework. The carvings feature an astronomer marking Sydney’s position on a globe and a gold digger excitedly pointing to a chunk of quartz and gold. The tours are already drawing crowds.
The hotel also takes part in the Sydney Open, an annual weekend-long architecture festival that encourages the community to explore the city’s significant buildings. More than 2,000 visitors flocked to The Fullerton Hotel Sydney to discover its fabled past, making it the second-most visited building in the festival.
Engaging the local community is at the core of the new hotel’s mission. On 28 November 2019, Sydneysiders and guests were invited to a heart-warming Christmas light-up celebration, where a tree adorned with Fullerton teddy bears was unveiled amid carols and complimentary Christmas goodies. As part of its social responsibility outreach, The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts has entered into a two-year partnership with local charity The Girls and Boys Brigade. The partnership includes financial support as well as tailored programmes to engage young people in hospitality workshops and training sessions conducted by hotel staff.
Owner Sino Hotels undertook a nine-month remediation project on the hotel’s stone facade, now restored to its full glory and befitting of its prime central location
FESTIVE CHEER
In the spirit of caring and giving, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney hosted a memorable Christmas celebration for the community on 28 November 2019. Live carols, festival magic and a mouth-watering fusion banquet were just some of the highlights of the hotel’s inaugural Christmas celebration held for charity, a tradition begun at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore and continuing at the Grand Dame of Sydney.
Children from The Girls and Boys Brigade, a local organisation that provides a safe haven for underprivileged youth, were invited to partake in a heart-warming Christmas light-up ceremony, where a tree adorned with Fullerton teddy bears was unveiled in the lobby of the storied former General Post Office. The merrymaking was followed by a sumptuous feast at the hotel’s destination restaurant, The Place, where Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale, General Manager of The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts, and Mark Burns, General Manager of The Fullerton Hotel Sydney, donned chefs’ hats to whip up an array of their favourite dishes, including papardelle with clams and Singaporean chicken curry. The merry evening concluded on a cheerful note, with each guest gifted festive goodies including homemade Christmas cookies, teddy bears and a beautiful leather-bound Fullerton notebook.
