A house built on Adelaide's grandest boulevard
Apex Stay grew from a nineteenth-century bank palace into the city's landmark casino hotel — this is the story of the building, the people and the parkland that shaped it.
1894 — the foundation
Architectural heritage
The site began as the Union Bank chambers of 1894 — a sandstone palace by Edmund Wright's studio, all Doric columns and carved keystones. When the tower rose a century later, the brief was simple: the old building stays the hero; the new one learns its manners.
State heritage listed · facade preserved in situ
| Era | Chapter | What survived |
|---|---|---|
| 1894 | Union Bank chambers open on North Terrace | Facade, banking hall ceiling |
| 1928 | Becomes the Terrace Hotel, Adelaide's first grand stay | Marble stair, lift shaft cage |
| 1985 | State heritage listing; gaming licence era begins | Full exterior envelope |
| 2024 | Reborn as Apex Stay — tower meets terrace | Everything worth keeping |
The archive
Foundation chronicle
A vertical ledger of dates — the moments the building changed hands, changed purpose, and finally changed skyline.
1894
Foundation stone laid for the Union Bank. The architect insisted on local bluestone — 'Adelaide buildings should wear Adelaide stone.'
1928
Converted to the Terrace Hotel — 40 rooms, a dining hall 'the equal of Sydney's finest', and the city's first hydraulic lift.
1965
The guest book closes its grand era — among the last signatures, a touring orchestra that filled the banking hall for an illegal midnight recital.
2024
Apex Stay opens — heritage shell intact, 24-storey tower behind, gaming hall in the old banking chamber.
The 1928 guest book is displayed in the lobby vitrine — ask at the desk and a host will open it to the orchestra's page.
Tactile materiality
What the house is made of
Slow luxury means materials that outlive trends — and craftsmen whose names we can still recite.
Joinery by Fischer & Co, Adelaide Hills · stone setting by Bartolo Masonry, fourth generation · metalwork by Studio Forge, Bowden — every maker within forty kilometres.
The gallery wing
Our own collection of contemporary Australian art — forty-two works across the lobby, the mezzanine and the park. Scan the wall plaque beside each piece for the audio guide, narrated by our curator.
"Riverlight III"
N. Karpany · 2023 · ochre and oil on linen · lobby east wall
Curator talks: first Sunday monthly, 11 am
Winter salon exhibition opens July 4
Private parkland
Two hectares of planted patience
The grounds hold an olive grove planted in 1928, a rosarium, a stand of river red gums older than the building, and three kilometres of graded walking loops the locals call the terrace trails.
Trail ledger
3.2 km
loops
140+
species
28 m
elevation
The olive grove
The rosarium
The red gums
Our rooftop apiary houses six hives — the honey on your breakfast table travelled about eighty metres.
Sustainability ledger
Green, audited, published
0%
renewable energy
0%
single-use plastic
0%
water reclaimed
0
rooftop hives
Closed-loop operations
Geothermal exchange heats the tower and pool; kitchen organics become compost for the parkland; every drop of greywater returns to the gardens.
Certified and audited
EarthCheck Platinum since opening; our annual sustainability audit is available from the concierge on request.
A signature in the air
Every great house has a smell you remember. Ours was composed in Grasse over eleven months: bergamot and sea salt on top, fig and white cedar at heart, grey amber in the base — the same accord in the lobby air, the linen, the spa oils.
Bergamot · sea salt · river mint
Fig · white cedar · olive leaf
Grey amber · sandstone musk
The home line — candle, diffuser and linen mist — is sold at the lobby boutique and online via the concierge.
The reading salon
A quiet room of first editions, Taschen folios and a fireplace that stays lit from May to September. Our resident critic curates the shelves quarterly; literary evenings run monthly with authors in residence.
- 1,200 volumes, borrowable to the room
- Author evenings, last Thursday monthly
- The 1928 first-edition shelf, by request
The provenance register
The house keeps a museum-grade register of its antiques — where each piece came from, what it survived, and who sold it to us.
1748
The Louis XV mirror
Gilded console mirror, banking hall east wall. Acquired Sotheby's 2019; certificate on file. The gilding is original.
1894
The teller's counter
Cedar and brass bank counter, now the lobby's concierge desk — the only piece that never left the building.
1921
The tapestry pair
Aubusson pastoral scenes, stair landing. Restored by our in-house textile conservator over fourteen months.
Scan any object's plaque for the restorer's audio note — three minutes on how the piece is kept alive.
Light study
Architectural photographer Elena Voss spent a year shooting the building's shadows — the way the facade catches first light, the banking hall at noon, the tower dissolving into dusk. A limited-edition volume of the series is published by the house.
Order the photobook
About the house
Common questions
History, tours and what you can see without a room key.
Can I visit the heritage rooms without staying?
Yes — the banking hall (now the gaming floor entrance), the lobby vitrines and the parkland are open to visitors. Guided heritage tours run Saturdays at 10 am.
Is the original 1894 building still intact?
The facade, banking hall ceiling, marble stair and teller's counter all survive in place — the tower was built behind, not through.
Are the art collection and antiques real?
Entirely — the collection is insured, registered and curated; plaques beside each object carry provenance and an audio note.
Do you host sustainability or architecture tours?
Monthly, by arrangement — the concierge pairs them with a coffee at the atrium bar. Ask the desk