The State Buildings sat empty for years before Kerry Hill got hold of them. Now the sandstone is cleaned, the ironwork is back and COMO The Treasury fills the old Treasury and Lands buildings on Cathedral Avenue with one of Perth's best hotels. A Michelin Key. A courtyard that turns gold in the afternoon. The bones of the building do most of the talking. Downstairs, COMO Shambhala Urban Escape sits in the converted subterranean vaults. Four treatment rooms, a 20-metre heated indoor pool, a sauna and a rooftop fitness centre one floor up. The spa draws on both Eastern and Western traditions, the sort of menu where a Balinese massage follows a consultation that feels closer to integrative medicine. Day visitors are welcome. You do not need to be a guest.
The pool is the centrepiece. Warm, long enough for laps, lined with sandstone and daylight. Afterwards there is the courtyard restaurant, a wine bar and Petition, the kind of neighbourhood kitchen that happens to sit inside a heritage monument. Perth has caught up to the building. This is one of the reasons.
