Inspired by the ghosts of the former inner city nightclub’s first patrons, Captain Melville in Melbourne was recently refurbished and re-invented as a restaurant and bar by the local studio Breathe Architecture.

Previously known as Mac’s Hotel, the building dates back to 1853 – the time when the first settlers descended on Australian shores “chasing land, gold and new beginnings, while convicts railed against their injustice and the class system that created it.”

See more project by Breathe Architecture on Yellowtrace.

“In the spirit of this historic, rebel narrative, the fit-out is conceptually based on the scene of mass occupation of Australia in the 1850’s by immigrants chasing gold in the Australian Gold Rush.

Melbourne had then grown almost over night from a tiny village into a gridded tent city. The repetition of these simple peaked forms, erected from materials on hand in the settlement (steel, timber, leather, canvas) and laid over the landscape, became the conceptual framework for the design and material palette.” – Breathe Architecture

I love the way the old hotel was sensitively stripped back to an empty shell in preparation for the new story to be told. The fabric of the existing building has been left intact wherever possible, with found objects and existing materials expressed, exposed and given a new life. In signature Breathe Architecture style, the new insertions are simple and stripped back, with an honest and robust material palette used throughout the space.

Beautiful, simple, gutsy, sustainable, interesting… and soooo Melbourne. Seriously, what more could one possibly ask for? Well done Breathe Architecture. Also full props for such clever art direction and story telling, accompanied by sharp photography by Andrew Wuttke. Brilliant.

See more project by Breathe Architecture on Yellowtrace.

[Images courtesy of Breathe Architecture. Photography by Andrew Wuttke.]