Once the living quarters for the warders of the historic Fremantle prison – an institution that looms large over the port city’s history – the Warders Hotel, with just 10 guest rooms, is something special. The attention to detail required within a heritage restoration is plain to see, giving due respect to these dwellings that housed warders for one hundred and forty years from 1851.

This long empty block of sandstone cottages that abuts the Fremantle Markets cried out for development over decades of unoccupancy. One block adjacent stands as private lets and individual homes, but Warders’ Hotel allows visitors to get a feel for Fremantle (and the property’s) history. Plaques throughout the buildings and their internal courtyard denote points of interest, doorways are low hung and old stoves remain.

While undoubtedly there’s a sympathetic restoration at play here, there’s also very much a contemporary edge with an adjoining restaurant, walkways, stairs and lifts constructed in concrete and steel; old and new interwoven with skill.

Floorboards are stripped and exposed, rough plastered walls are painted brilliant white, and electricity cables run within wall mounted copper piping. It all gives a sparse yet comfortable air to the room design, while small flourishes of design and hospitality impress.

Bar-style taps built in above a fitted copper drip tray deliver still and sparkling water; a sustainable winner that does away with the need for packaged products. A free yet simple mini bar selection is stocked with Otherside Brewing Co. tinnies from their nearby production brewery. Freo.Social, their live music and bar outpost is just 3 minutes walk away on Parry Street.

It’s an apt inclusion, Fremantle recognised as the birthplace of Australian craft brewing. The Sail & Anchor, the brewpub that many see as kicking things off, is just 50 metres down the street; Little Creatures draws drinkers to the Fishing Boat Harbour; and in South Fremantle, Running With Thieves is the newest entrant to the scene on Marine Terrace.

Each of the ten guest rooms displays a painting by Fremantle artist, Tessa MacKay, an Archibald finalist in 2019. The works depict Emily Taylor who gives her name to the neighbouring Mod-Asian restaurant. Little is known of Taylor, including what she looked like; just that she gave her name to a nineteenth century trading ship, captained by her husband, that sailed from England to Fremantle collecting tea and spices on its route via Asia. One of many shipwrecks along the WA coast the Emily Taylor lays at the bottom of Cockburn Sound, having run aground.

The dining room of Emily Taylor with its open kitchen and high ceilings holds a Asian imagining of Taylor, in a large-scale mural. Artistic licence perhaps but it’s an interesting thread that runs through the property, and which links neatly to sister property the Hougoumont Hotel in Fremantle’s West End; named after the last convict ship to disembark in Fremantle.

Emily Taylor serves flavour forward dishes like crispy Xinjang style lamb, hot with Szechuan pepper and fermented chilli. There’s a trio of staff expertly crafting hundreds of dumplings a day stuffed with oxtail, prawns, mushrooms and lobster. Lacquered roast duck hangs at the open pass. (Pictured: Dumplings and Bao Bites)

While Emily Taylor is a 450-capacity venue designed to pack in groups to the dining room and the open courtyard bordered by limestone walls, Gimlet is a more bijou offering: a hole in the wall coffee and Aperitivo bar that has its home in one of the original cottages. As a guest it’s a short haul for a morning espresso and a pastry (or two) for breakfast.

Warders Hotel is sure to be a hit with those discovering Fremantle for the first time but equally for the staycation market; West Australians who are rediscovering an ever changing Fremantle.

19 – 29 Henderson St, Fremantle, WA (Enter via Market Lane) T — +61 8 9239 3300 www.wardershotel.com.au