Garde Hotel

Garde Hotel opened on 1 September 2025 inside Fremantle's former Police Headquarters, converting the heritage Convict Quarter building into what locals describe as the port town's first five-star hotel. Its 83 new rooms operate alongside the existing heritage-listed Warders Cottages for a combined 106 keys, with the Anglesea restaurant and a wellness centre following two weeks later.

The place

In Fremantle's Convict Quarter, inside the former Fremantle Police Headquarters, steps from the UNESCO-listed Fremantle Prison and Fremantle Markets, about 19 km southwest of the Perth CBD.

The concept

Garde opened its doors on 1 September 2025 inside the former Fremantle Police Headquarters, a heritage building that had never previously operated as a hotel. Architects Matthew Crawford Architects and Foolscap Studio built 83 new rooms and suites into and around the historic structure, which now operates together with the neighbouring heritage-listed Warders Cottages for a combined 106 keys: described locally as Fremantle's first five-star hotel.

The project comes from the same Fremantle hospitality operators behind Warders Hotel, Emily Taylor, Gimlet and the Hougoumont Hotel, who have spent over a decade converting the port town's colonial-era Convict Quarter buildings into hospitality venues. Garde's name plays on "guardianship" (a reference to the site's policing history) and the brief was to keep the heritage fabric of the old headquarters visible while updating the building for contemporary boutique use.

Dining & wellness

Anglesea, the hotel's signature ground-floor restaurant with a Japanese and Korean-inflected menu, opened alongside a wellness centre with sauna and ice shower on 15 September 2025.