Melbourne Buildings

The Grand Hyatt is a 547 room, 5 star hotel on Collins Street. With a curtain wall of golden tinted glass shaped in a giant L-shaped curve, it has an imposing, if now built out, presence on the “Paris End” of Collins. Faceted vertical bays of glass break up the main exposed concrete mass and add to a shimmering effect.

The 104 metre 35 storey building was designed by architecture firm Peddle Thorpe Walker for developer Max Moar of Lustig & Moar. Plans began in 1981¹ with construction undertaken by the Grollo Group and completed by 1985 at a cost of $240 million AUD. Several buildings were demolished for the new hotel, although the corner building, the Alexandra Club (1887) was integrated into the new complex. The hotel’s style was originally overtly post modern. The exterior featured a postmodern style podium with mock giant order columns and cornice fronting Collins Street and a brutalist concrete podium brooding over similar columns in a recessed alcove entrance fronting Russell Street both at the same height as the Alexandra Club. The interiors had an art deco flavour with an abundance of sculpted bronze, brass and marble. During a $45 million renovation in 2009,² the podium was modernised with minimalist metal screens in 2011. The interiors were also extensively updated at this time.

Hyatt Regency tower and podium looking south across Collins Street in 2012

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