Moss Manor has had many lives. Its glorious Victorian bones once housed the town’s council chambers, and now, in its present avatar, it serves as the Southern Highlands’s first art hotel. To say it has set precedents would be putting it lightly, so when , founder and principal architect of his eponymous architecture firm, came on board to design the , he was but destined to set another.
In a bid to turn the hotel into a characterful showcase of Australian art, Luke tied up with Sydney-based . “We chose modern pieces that would be an elegant counterpoint to the Victorian hauteur. There were fifty-five pieces in all, including works by artists such as David Collins, Joe Furlonger, Peter Godwin and Ann Thomson,” says Luke.
For a building so historic, the interior is remarkably cosy. The shell is divided into eight well-appointed guest suites, featuring fabrics and furnishings personally (and painstakingly) collected by the owner over several years. “As a result, the rooms feel personally curated; their character more in keeping with a lovely old home than a hotel,”
shares Luke.
The hotel is as voguish as it is Victorian. The proof lies behind the building, in the way of a jet-black made of and . “The brief from the owner was for a new guest sitting and dining space, designed with simplicity of form and structure,” says Luke, adding that the design was inspired in part by Glenn Murcutt’s Berowra Waters Inn. “I saw an opportunity to treat the new extension as a sheltered platform offering views over the landscape. Guests can sit in comfort and look out to the garden, towards the historic Moss Vale railway bridge and the roofscape of the town beyond.”
The abiding blackness of the pavilion is surprisingly in sync with the ornate masonry of the original building: the former’s sharp angles mirror the rectilinear forms of the old construction.
“Here, modernity and history sit comfortably together,” says Luke. Indeed, with hotel-like luxury and homelike comfort, Moss Manor is that rare jewel box where history, art and architecture all belong in equal spirit.
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