OLD HONG KONG
Old Hong Kong - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Old Hong Kong | |||||
| By: Helen McKenzie, Issue 44 – Spring 2010 | |||||
| (Hong Kong, China) | |||||
| THIS COOL HONG KONG HOTEL PRESENTS AN EDGY MIX OF OLD AND NEW CHINA WRITES HELEN MCKENZIE. | |||||
| If the word “heritage” conjures up images of dusty doilies, and the term “bygone era” makes you want to run in the opposite direction, then Hullet House, Hong Kong will make you think again. Hullett House is the haute couture of heritage. The all-suite hotel pays homage to a love affair with Chinoiserie design and decoration but the approach is very 21st century. “We give you old Hong Kong” is the concept behind this recently opened boutique hotel. The 1881 three-storey white stucco building, once HQ for the Marine Police, has a grand elevated presence that demands attention. Tourists passing by reach for their cameras; it is a surprise to find such an anomaly among the tall glass towers in Hong Kong. Indeed Hullett House is one of only four remaining colonial government buildings in the city. Located on Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, opposite the Cultural Centre; it is a two minute walk from Hong Kong’s famous Star Ferry. The hotel staff organise a car service to collect guests from the airport. This avoids any access difficulties from Canton Road and makes check-in easy. Reception sets the tone at Hullett House. The three metre high wood lined room has a mysterious feel. The use of antique items such as wooden ducks and toys for decorative interest are indicative of the personalised care taken by designer David Yeo. Yeo, who is also MD of the Aqua Group owners of Hullett House, scoured the local antique shops to find just the right pieces. Yeo’s intention is to make the guest aware that they have entered a new zone. The best of modern China and old China are combined; the result is edgy and classical all at once. It was Marco Polo’s account of “Cathay” - as China was known in the early 14th Century - that first alerted the western world to the decorative arts and architecture of the east. The explorer observed the design motifs they employed – phoenixes, dragons, ibis, rocky mountains, winding rivers, willows, chrysanthemums; in a world peopled by elaborately dressed, courteous, tea drinking, rod fishing, kite flying gentlefolk. The mystery and intrigue of the east was further enhanced when from 1368 to 1644 foreigners were not welcomed. Formation of the East India Company and the Dutch East India Company in Elizabethan times both opened up and formalised trade between the Orient and the West. This access altered art and design in England and Europe and created what we know as Chinoiserie. The ten suites at Hullett House are individually decorated – D’Aguillar is traditional. Gilt, pistachio green and terracotta orange painted finishes on panelled walls that discretely hide the LCD TV and DVD. There is a formal marble fireplace carved with the head and bust of a female figure rather like a ship’s prow. Mirrored tiles and gold fixtures feature in the spacious bathroom. The Casam suite is a different story all together. Decorated with art and sculpture from Hong Kong’s finest contemporary artists, the bathroom features a red resin bench top. The overall result is so cool; it’s so hot. In keeping with the hotel’s Marine theme each of the ten suites are named after Hong Kong’s many bays – Stanley, Shek O, Lido, Tsing Lung and so on. They are all large, (the smallest is 82 square metres,) each has access to a balcony. The larger, corner suites have an additional private balcony, suitable for dinner parties or drinks. Speaking of drinks, the Hullett House specialty is the Dragon Back cocktail, it is delicious and what’s more it claims medicinal virtues! It combines vodka, champagne, lychee liqueur, strawberry liqueur with the “good for blood pressure” dragon fruit. The Loong Toh Yuen Cantonese Restaurant is a feast visually and the food’s good too. With a 1930s tea house decorative theme, the black lacquer faux bamboo chairs with pagoda roof line shaped backs are to die for and the daily dim sum menu at lunchtime, popular. There are four additional dining options at the hotel, from casual tapas housed in converted stables, to fine dining in the lavishly appointed St George. The Mariner’s Rest is the most original of all the rooms in the hotel. Always a drinking place, the walls are lined with photographs of the marine police in action and the Hong Kong Harbour full of junks and cargo ships. It opens on to a lush garden that includes a number of rare plants. Barmen of yesteryear were given seedlings and plants from distant shores and their plantings are visible today. It didn’t look like a venue where skirmishes would break out but troublemakers should note that just beside the bar are three cells; which although original in form look perfectly operable. Many a smuggler or pirate made use of one of the first squat toilets in Hong Kong; clearly, commitment to state of the art design is a Hullett House historic tradition. | |||||
| HULLETT HOUSE 2 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel. +852 3988 0000 www.hulletthouse.com Opened November, 2009 | |||||
| Style Boutique, all-suite, 13 guest rooms. | |||||
| Rates A$650-875 per night. | |||||
| Restaurant and bars The Parlour, bar with all-day dining and afternoon tea service. Stables Grill, casual Western grill. Loong Toh Yuen, Cantonese restaurant with dim sum service in the afternoon. Mariners’ Rest, British gastro-pub featuring the estate’s original jail cells. St. George, European fine dining from executive chef Philippe Orrico. | |||||
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