A prison once packed with some of Australia’s most notorious criminals, including Chopper Read and early 20th-century gangster Squizzy Taylor, has gone through a careful restoration and now, behind its cracked walls, includes a new apartment hotel from the Adina brand and a full-blown lifestyle precinct.
Pentridge Prison, which also housed Ned Kelly at one stage, has been redeveloped as part of a wider billion-dollar lifestyle precinct, which also includes a BrewDog outlet, a Palace Cinema and now the Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne. Later this year, it’ll also welcome a small boutique 19-suite property called The Interlude, with a wellness focus and a very unique design (pictured above) built into the guts of the prison’s old B Division.
Adina Apartment Hotels doesn’t exactly scream five-star luxury and aren’t often seen as destinations unto themselves, but TFE Hotels’ reliable brand has always hit the right spot with functional design and generously sized well-equipped apartments.
This expression of the Adina brand is slightly different from the other hotels across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. There’s no mistaking that this new-build hotel is behind the walls of a prison and the designers have clearly had a lot of fun playing around with the hotel and its eco-conscious approach.
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This 106-room hotel complements the wider Pentridge development with nearby venues including Olivine wine bar and the North & Common restaurant. Most interesting, however, is that aforementioned The Interlude, which introduces a different kind of restoration to the 170-year-old site.
The biggest downside to staying here is, of course, that you’re not in the heart of Melbourne. Pentridge is pretty much halfway between the CBD and the airport.
Adina is located in a new-build tower that was constructed to complement the prison’s sightly bluestone walls, erected adjacent to the old B Division which served as the prison’s solitary confinement. Three basement levels have been built into the tower, all of which have EV charging stations to align with the Adina brand’s eco-conscious push which has already seen Auckland’s excellent Hotel Bitromart pick up some awards for sustainable design.
While it’s an impressive conversion, this isn’t the only example of a former prison site being converted into premium accommodation. In the Netherlands’ city of Breda, a 130-year-old prison now stands as Prison de Boschpoor and you’ll also find examples of such dramatic conversations locally in Bendigo and internationally in Boston, London and Istanbul. In total, there are 40 prison conversions worldwide.
Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne
Address: 1 Pentridge Boulevard, Coburg VIC 3058)
Rates at Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne start from around $190 per night.
