Lanson Place Parliament Gardens

Lanson Place Parliament Gardens opened in East Melbourne in September 2024, the Hong Kong operator's first Australian hotel and an $80 million adaptive reuse of the heritage-listed 1901 Salvation Army Printing Works. The 137-key property, designed by Denton Corker Marshall with interiors by Conran and Partners, mixes hotel rooms and serviced apartments around a 20-metre pool, a spa and more than 450 commissioned artworks tracing the building's printing history.

The place

The hotel occupies 502 Albert Street in East Melbourne, on the edge of the CBD facing Parliament Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens, a leafy, low-rise pocket of Melbourne known for its Victorian terraces and proximity to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Parliament House. The address puts guests within walking distance of the CBD's core while trading its density for garden views — a deliberate contrast to the high-rise hotel cluster further west.

The concept

Lanson Place Parliament Gardens marks the Hong Kong operator's first Australian property, an adaptive reuse of the 1901 Salvation Army Printing Works — a building that had spent decades since 1980 in office use, with no hospitality history, before this $80 million redevelopment. Architecture firm Denton Corker Marshall led the 16-storey conversion and vertical extension of the heritage-protected structure, while London-based Conran and Partners designed the interiors, threading the building's printing-press past through the finished hotel via more than 450 commissioned artworks and sculptures, including a 40-metre lobby ceiling installation inspired by the native Melaleuca (paperbark) tree. The 137-key mix of hotel rooms, studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments and two penthouses positions the property for both leisure stays and longer corporate or relocation bookings, a format consistent with Lanson Place's existing portfolio in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, which leans on serviced-apartment flexibility alongside full hotel service. The project was recognized as Apartment Accommodation Hotel of the Year at the 2025 Victorian Accommodation Awards for Excellence, an early signal that the adaptive-reuse execution has landed well with the local trade.

Dining & wellness

The hotel's signature restaurant and bar, Chronicle 502 Bar & Dining, serves modern Australian cuisine and doubles as the breakfast venue. Wellness facilities include a 20-metre heated indoor lap pool, a spa, and a 24-hour fitness centre fitted with Technogym equipment.