Tucked in a residential street in Fitzroy is an unassuming terrace house signed ‘Brooklyn Arts Hotel’. Push the door open and the two laidback labradors welcome you with a sniff and a tail wag, before Maggie the friendly owner greets you.
Brooklyn Arts Hotel is a small bed and breakfast with a welcoming sense of quirky homeliness. It is the antithesis of the sleek international five-star chains – everything is just a little rickety (in a charming way) and there are lots of interesting items collected in the seven rooms, the restful leafy courtyard garden and the main sitting area. Maggie was a landscape architect and is now involved in the arts, so it makes sense that the décor is filled with eye-catching paintings, period photographs, lino prints and objects d’art.
I immediately felt soothed by the hotel’s calm surroundings, with the gentle swaying of trees outside and the soft lamplight of my high-ceilinged double room with shared bathroom ($135 a night). One of the rooms apparently contains a piano!
The tariff includes a continental breakfast which is set out all along the sideboard – an amazing piece of discarded furniture that Maggie picked up off the pavement in Brunswick. The spread includes a wide range of teas and coffees, cereal, organic sourdough from nearby bakery Fatto a Mano and fresh fruit. You can choose to take your breakfast sitting at the grand dining table, flipping through the day’s newspaper or the myriad of Melbourne-related reading material, or sip your coffee relaxing under the trees in the courtyard watching the clouds above you. It’s a beautiful way to start the day.
Brooklyn Arts Hotel is full of personality and reminded me of the lovely small B&Bs I stayed at all through Europe. I highly recommend it for the traveller who likes to get off the beaten track a little, yet still enjoys their creature comforts.
- Brooklyn Arts Hotel, 50 George St, Fitzroy +61 3 9419 9328
Fitzroy, Melbourne, well it is an amazing mixture of old Australians, new Australians and everything in between. Cosmopolitan, yes! Unique, definitely. Great food! You cannot get better!
The Brooklyn Arts Hotel looks quite charming and it might be the one that can provide with me with the lounging break that I need. I should check in there as maybe I would get to see the piano and to surely try the delightful breakfast.
This place looks like you are stepping into a very loved home. I think it would be like staying in a big hug! I can not wait to check it out on my next visit to the city.
Great pictures!