The Interlude

Set within the bluestone walls of the former Pentridge Prison in Coburg, this hotel occupies the old B Division, where nineteen suites have been carved from what were once cells. The conversion keeps the heritage masonry deliberately legible, pairing it with contemporary interiors and a subterranean pool used for morning bathing. Dining runs through The Mess Hall, with an adjoining wine bar, Olivine, and the property leans on collaborations with local makers for tastings and workshops. The wider Pentridge site, decommissioned as a prison in 1997, has become a precinct of cinemas, restaurants and shops in Melbourne's inner north. The result is unusually place-specific: a stay whose character is inseparable from the confronting history of the building it inhabits, about ten kilometres from the city centre.