Drag photos
Captain Melville is the re-invention of a dark, inner-city nightclub into a restaurant and bar, inspired by the ghosts of the hotels first patrons. Amid a colony in a state of dichotomy, 1853 saw the construction of Mac’s Hotel — one of Victoria’s first licensed hotels. Settlers flooded to our shores chasing land, gold and new beginnings, while convicts railed against their injustice and the class system that created it.
In the spirit of this historic, rebel narrative, the fit-out is conceptually based on the scene of mass occupation of Australia in the 1850s, 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 and laid over the landscape, became the conceptual framework for the design and material palette.
Welling up from beneath the colony came the influence of the rebel spirit, manifested here in the tale of Captain Melville, the ‘Gentleman’ Bushranger. Rousing a new layer of chaos and asymmetry this renegade sentiment permeates through the venue’s new identity, branding and raw materiality.
We acknowledge the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Captain Melville stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.
Captain Melville is the re-invention of a dark, inner-city nightclub into a restaurant and bar, inspired by the ghosts of the hotels first patrons. Amid a colony in a state of dichotomy, 1853 saw the construction of Mac’s Hotel — one of Victoria’s first licensed hotels. Settlers flooded to our shores chasing land, gold and new beginnings, while convicts railed against their injustice and the class system that created it.
In the spirit of this historic, rebel narrative, the fit-out is conceptually based on the scene of mass occupation of Australia in the 1850s, 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 and laid over the landscape, became the conceptual framework for the design and material palette.
Welling up from beneath the colony came the influence of the rebel spirit, manifested here in the tale of Captain Melville, the ‘Gentleman’ Bushranger. Rousing a new layer of chaos and asymmetry this renegade sentiment permeates through the venue’s new identity, branding and raw materiality.
Location
Melbourne, VIC
Builder
Ficus Constructions
Photographer
Andrew Wuttke
We acknowledge the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Captain Melville stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Breathe acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Breathe stands. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.
