The approach via Cleveland Street still moves to the beat of traffic, then the scene shifts. Baptist Street feels quieter, more focused, almost like a clean cut in the film. Between brickwork, new addresses and an older urban fabric, The EVE opens with a calm that does not stand apart from the city, but sits inside it. You arrive and notice it quickly: this hotel does not filter out its surroundings. It absorbs them.
The location
The EVE stands on Baptist Street, where Redfern and Surry Hills begin to merge and Sydney takes on a pleasantly rough grain. The airport is close enough, the CBD as well; Redfern Station, Moore Park and Crown Street all sit within easy reach. Around the hotel, workshop traces, brick facades, new restaurants and everyday urban life meet without much effort.
From outside, the property presents itself as part of Wunderlich Lane: warm masonry, clear edges, generous greenery, a facade with composure. Nothing pushes too hard. That is exactly what works. From the first moment, the feeling is that city energy is being gathered here, then quietly turned down.
Backstory
The EVE is not a hotel with a long legacy, but one with a deliberate sense of the present. Opened in February 2025, it forms part of the new Wunderlich Lane precinct and of a wider urban renewal that does not erase the area’s industrial past, but recodes it. Living, dining, work and public space move closer together here.
The hotel acts as a social anchor within that mix. It is led by General Manager Ben Mellor, who has guided the property since its pre-opening phase and positioned it clearly as an open, neighbourhood-facing address. Its design identity comes from Adam Haddow of SJB, landscape designer Daniel Baffsky and interior architect George Livissianis. Three names, three perspectives, one shared idea: an urban hotel with local connection and without the usual interchangeability.
Interior & architecture
Architecture and interiors here do not speak in the usual boutique-hotel whisper, but with calm and precision. SJB, led by Adam Haddow, designed a building organised around a planted courtyard and serious about material presence. Warm mineral tones, natural stone, glazed terracotta, sandblasted travertine, Palladiana floors and exposed concrete create depth without weighing the house down.
Daniel Baffsky shaped the landscape so that courtyard and roof garden feel less like decoration than like small counter-spaces to the city. Inside, George Livissianis continues that approach with custom joinery, exact colour choices, local art and textile quiet.
Even transitions, window lines, handles and banquettes feel considered. The pool is lined with Sukabumi tiles; the cabanas are custom-made. The result is tactile, urban, exact—and refreshingly free of design vanity.
A look inside
The public spaces are distributed through the building almost casually: lobby and Bar Julius below, guestrooms above, then Lottie, the pool and a rooftop boardroom at the top.
The EVE has 102 rooms and suites that feel less like standard hospitality product than carefully arranged urban refuges. Categories include Courtyard Room, Sunset Room, Sunset Balcony, Courtyard Balcony, Wunderlich Balcony, Wunderlich Terrace and Sunset Suite.
Across all of them: king beds, bespoke banquettes, local minibars, Nespresso machines, Chromecast, Saardé amenities and motorised blackout blinds.
What matters most is the connection to the outside. Every room has a Juliet balcony, a balcony or a terrace. Some suites add bathtubs. Some rooms face the planted courtyard, others the neighbourhood. Both work.
Culinary
The EVE takes a smart two-track approach to food and drink. Upstairs is Lottie, both rooftop restaurant and mezcaleria, with a kitchen that runs Mexican flavours through a contemporary Australian lens. Dishes are shared, seasoned, counter-seasoned, balanced—never timid, rarely overworked.
Then there is the open roof-garden atmosphere: pool light, stone, plants, evening sky, a sense of occasion that stays relaxed. Downstairs, Bar Julius works as a European-leaning all-day address for coffee, breakfast, bistro dishes, aperitifs and later cocktails. Both venues are operated by Liquid & Larder, a firmly established name in Sydney hospitality.
Bar Julius names Will Francis as head chef; there is also daily in-room dining from 7 am to 10 pm. The result is a culinary arc that carries the day from first coffee to final drink. No gastro circus, just a clear point of view.
Wellness & Relaxation
The real zone of calm is not in the basement, but upstairs, in the open air. The 20-metre rooftop pool runs through a garden-like setting of natural stone, palms, custom cabanas and parasols with a faint retro note. You swim, look out over the city and quickly realise how rare this kind of ease still is in an urban hotel.
The EVE does not claim an overproduced spa universe, and that is part of its strength. Instead, it relies on curated wellness experiences with local partners and on a form of recovery that works through atmosphere: water, wind, distance from the street. Often, that is enough.
Surrounding area
The area around The EVE is not backdrop, but part of the stay. Right outside lies Wunderlich Lane with its newer restaurants, boutiques and beauty and wellness addresses; a few minutes further on, Crown Street in Surry Hills shows how well everyday life, style and going out can coexist when nobody over-curates the mix.
Culturally, things get interesting quickly. Carriageworks in Eveleigh, housed in a former railway workshop, is one of the city’s strongest venues for exhibitions, performances and, on Saturdays, an excellent farmers market. In Chippendale, White Rabbit Gallery presents Chinese contemporary art with real clarity. The Australian Design Centre in Darlinghurst focuses on Australian craft and design without turning museum-dry. To read Redfern historically, follow a Barani Walk and encounter Aboriginal histories of the neighbourhood. South Eveleigh is also worth the detour, for its public art, the Interchange Pavilion and its unusually good mix of tech campus, urban renewal and industrial residue.
Activities
For design lovers: coffee at Bar Julius, then White Rabbit Gallery and the Australian Design Centre as a double bill.
For early risers: Carriageworks Farmers Market on Saturday, then back to the rooftop pool.
For architecture-minded travellers: walk Wunderlich Lane and South Eveleigh together; adaptive reuse, public art and new urban pieces all come into view.
© The EVE Hotel Sydney, Photographer: Georg Roske
For culture travellers: check the current Carriageworks programme, then end the evening with dinner at Lottie.
For guests interested in local history: take the Barani Walk through Redfern and read the area through Aboriginal perspectives.
For flaneurs: drift along Crown Street into small shops, bookshops and cafés, ideally without a fixed plan.
For food-led stays: bistro dishes at Bar Julius by day, mezcal and shared plates upstairs by night.
For city-break travellers with little time: hotel, pool, late lunch at Lottie, short detour to South Eveleigh.
For couples: choose a Sunset Suite or Wunderlich Terrace and let the day taper out between terrace, room and rooftop.
For business guests: meetings by day, a few laps in the pool after, then a late dinner without reopening the day’s logistics.
For slower explorers: walk to Redfern in the morning, pause at the hotel at midday, head out again in the evening.
For art lovers without much planning: White Rabbit and Carriageworks together make a very good day.
Details
- 102 rooms and suites.
- Largest categories: Wunderlich Terrace, Sunset Suite, Wunderlich Balcony.
- Restaurants and bars: Lottie Rooftop Restaurant & Mezcaleria, Bar Julius, plus in-room dining daily from 7 am to 10 pm.
- Wellness: 20-metre rooftop pool, custom cabanas, curated experiences with local partners.
- Services: 24-hour reception, Wi-Fi, luggage storage, room service, rooftop boardroom, on-site parking.
- Room details: king beds, local minibar, Nespresso, Chromecast, Saardé amenities, balcony, Juliet balcony or terrace in every category.
- Check-in from 2 pm, check-out until 11 am, non-smoking hotel.
