East Circular Quay Redevelopment (Series): Unilever House Hotel Conversion (1986)

Source: Anon. 1988. Untitled (illustration). The Weekend Australian, April 2: 1 (Property Liftout).

In part three of our series on the redevelopment of East Circular Quay, I look at the proposal to redevelop Unilever House through the conversion of the office building into a hotel.

Unilever House was completed in 1958 and was 16 storeys tall. It was located far northern end of East Circular Quay (Location of 1 Bennelong), predating the Sydney Opera House by 15 years.

Source: Kent, S. 1986. "Lang Hancock Plans Hotel for Choice Quay Site". Good Weekend Magazine (The Sydney Morning Herald), February 22: 5.

Last week, I mentioned that Unilever House was bought by Molena Holdings for $22.8 million in 1983. In 1986, plans were lodged with Sydney City Council to redvelop the office building into a 223 room hotel. The structure was to remain, with the top two floors demolished and rebuilt to contain hotel suites.

The estimated cost of redevelopment was placed at $75 million. Conditional pproval was given in 1986. 

Source: Childs, P. 1986. "Opera House hotel plans get the nod". The Sun Herald, April 6: 23. 

Next week, I will revisit the Opera Gardens Scheme which was also in the planning mode in 1986.

Other Entries in this series

1. East Circular Quay Redevelopment (Series): The first apartment block proposal (1979)
2. East Circular Quay Redevelopment (Series): Opera Garden Centre Scheme (1984)