You half expect Cabaret’s Emcee

to leap out from behind the red velvet curtain and start singing Wilcommen, bienvenue, welcome. Sydney’s dazzling new QT hotel is more than a touch theatrical. The hotel might have been devised by Federico Fellini and Bob Fosse, with a bit of help from Jean Cocteau and glam rocker Marc Bolan. Exuberantly designed and cleverly appointed (and a sequin short of camp) it’s a bold and wonderful addition to Sydney’s mostly-beige hotel scene.

The QT Sydney is the passion of David Seargeant, managing director of AHL, operators of hotels and resorts such as the Thredbo Lodge, and the new QT Port Douglas and QT Gold Coast. In creating the QT brand’s flagship hotel, he drew together an impressive collection of design talents to link two of Sydney’s most treasured heritage buildings, the Gowings men’s department store and the glorious art deco State Theatre, both dating from 1929, in a massive $60 million restoration project that preserved many of the buildings’ original features while reinterpreting to the special history of both – the showbiz pedigree of the State Theatre and the nostalgic ambience of the old retail store.

Brand designer Fabio Ongarato themed the hotel around a ‘collage of dynamic images’ – Art Deco, Innuendo, Surrealism, Voyeurism, Opulence and Noir – and left the interpretation to architect Nic Graham, who created the eye-popping public spaces and furniture; interior designer Shelley Indyk, who devised the 200 sexy guestrooms; costume designer Janet Hine, who dressed the staff in Weimar Republic-meets-neo-goth style; decorator Anna Roberts who filled rooms and reclaimed shop cabinets with curiosities, and art curator Amanda Love, whose selection of luminous LED video installations changes up the mood from sideshow to sophisticated cool. Combine all these elements with the seamless integration of the brasserie-style Gowings Bar & Grill, under the eye of executive chef Robert Marchetti (breakfasts here are the best and most inventive we’ve seen), and the quirky but calm SpaQ and hammam in the basement, and the QT is less midcity hotel than sensual garden of delights.

It’s best not to spoil some surprises, but there are many things to love. The charming young staff, for a start, who were ‘cast’ for personality rather than merely hired.  Guests are greeted on the street by porter Emma Young, a double for Sally Bowles. Lanky concierge David Clarke, sharply dressed in dinner suit and bow tie, would not be out of place in a James Bond movie. Downstairs in the retro Barber Shop, tattooed barber Tom South, administers Cut Throat shaves with the aplomb of Sweeney Todd (although not, we are assured, the deadly results.)

Nic Graham’s exceptional furniture, such as the phallic silver ‘sex sofa’, created with Shanghai-based furniture collective Stellar Works, exist in the hyper-coloured spaces almost with personalities of their own. Other pieces, like the old radiogram in the Barber Shop, were bought on eBay or scavenged from the streets. In the guest room hallways, disembodied hands sprout from walls, Cocteau-like, holding room numbers. On the Gowings side, the hallways and rooms keep the feel of the old store with the original narrow floorboards and metal fire doors. The State Theatre side features wide halls with plush Rothko-style carpets, dark wood panelling and ornate ceilings. Sassy doorknob signs read YES or NO, rather than make Up My Room or Do Not Disturb. Step into the elevator alone and special sensors will make sure you’re serenaded with Eric Carmen’s All By Myself; when you’re in a crowd, it’s a thumping disco beat.

Bedroom amenities included black hoodie robes and leopard-print eyemasks, as well as free digital movies, high-speed WiFi and EPG record and play back. In an Australian first, guests can stream content from the hotel’s network to their own mobile device. When all the technology gets exhausting, the ingredients for the hotel’s signature espresso martini sit on a cocktail table with instructions how to make it.

Witty touches and thoughtful details abound. Perhaps the creativity might be too much for those with conventional tastes. But whatever your preference in hotels, you can’t deny that the QT Sydney has made quite an entrance.

The QT Sydney is brilliantly located at George and Market Streets, across from the Pitt Street shopping mall and the Queen Victoria Building. Once a booking is made, you can download the QT app to create a bespoke travel experience.

Mr and Mrs Amos were guests of the QT Sydney.

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