Accor Vacation Club celebrated the 90th Birthday of the Grand Mercure Melbourne, Flinders Lane building by recently completing a multi-million dollar makeover of the hotel. The project is the most ambitious in the history of owners, Accor Vacation Club, who have spent $4.3 million to bring the property back to its glamorous glory, so well known by stars of stage and screen over the past two decades.The building, which is located at 321 Flinders Lane, was built in 1921 on the former Dr. Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System Co. Ltd site, the company later evolving in to the internationally renowned Jaeger fashion House. The building was first tenanted in 1923 and housed various textile and fashion retailers including Wallace Buck & Goodes Pty Ltd, the founder of Henry Bucks & Co Pty Ltd.
The design philosophy of Penny Del Castillo’s from In Design International drew inspiration from those early “fashion house” days with a view of creating an expression of sophisticated elegance, through an individual design concept that would remain unique to Grand Mercure Melbourne, Flinders lane.
The result has turned this “all suite” apartment hotel into a market leading boutique product, which presents a contemporary range of sophisticated suites that infuse modern design philosophies with the architectural and historical heritage of the building.
Craig Wood CEO of Accor Vacation Club commented “The fashion designers who occupied the building in days gone by would have appreciated the creative elements and chic flair used in the overall design and we would like to believe they would be proud knowing that their influences live on today! That said when they occupied the building in 1923 they could lease an entire floor of the building for only £1,900 per annum, fortunately for us times and room rates have changed”.
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