From the architects:
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. The challenge facing any adaptive re-use such as the Warders Hotel with such sensitive heritage is to ensure that not only is the fabric retained but that the essence of the building is not lost.
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, named Gimlet.
The internal staircases have been sealed 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 an East India Company ship that serviced the spice routes. The trusses reference the history of the site by following old fence lines, further reinforced by jarrah inlays on the floor.
Imported Chinese face bricks line the walls of the restaurant and represent the ballast that 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.
