An unused retail space and storage rooms at St Kilda’s Prince Hotel have been reimagined as Little Prince Wine, a contemporary wine store and small bar that makes a charming extension to the hotel’s offering. Echo­ing its approach to the new designs for the Prince Din­ing Room and Prince Pub­lic Bar, IF Architecture has cre­at­ed a new retail and hos­pi­tal­i­ty venue that’s undoubt­ed­ly mod­ern, yet redo­lent of the old hotel’s his­to­ry and character. IF Architecture opened up the avail­able space as much as struc­tur­al engi­neer­ing would allow, pro­vid­ing greater ameni­ty and cre­at­ing con­nec­tions, both inter­nal­ly and with oth­er parts of the hotel. Fur­ni­ture and fit­tings were intro­duced in a style con­sis­tent with the neigh­bour­ing pub­lic bar.

Work­ing in this his­toric hotel pre­sent­ed chal­lenges but also oppor­tu­ni­ties. The con­trast between con­tem­po­rary insertions and the rus­tic exist­ing build­ing fab­ric makes for an inte­ri­or envi­ron­ment that feels fresh and unique. Fibreglass was used to fab­ri­cate a sculp­tur­al cus­tom “ice buck­et” for hold­ing bot­tles of white and sparkling wines sold by the glass. Near­by, a cus­tom steel table dis­plays a sim­i­lar­ly curved, organ­ic outline.

Rather than being designed as a dis­crete retail and hos­pi­tal­i­ty venue, Lit­tle Prince Wine is imbued with a sense of con­nec­tion to oth­er parts of the hotel. Sig­nage and sight-lines, includ­ing one care­ful­ly framed view through a win­dow into the pub­lic bar and out to Fitzroy Street, are always hint­ing at some­thing beyond.

Beneath the main space, an old cel­lar pro­vides an addi­tion­al din­ing area and an exten­sion to the retail offer­ing. It’s been updat­ed with a wait­er sta­tion and anoth­er cus­tom steel table, while the exist­ing bot­tle stor­age racks and tim­ber floor have been retained and restored. Care­ful­ly chore­o­graphed light­ing ensures that the mood here is dark­ly dra­mat­ic, mark­ing this sub­ter­ranean vault as a rather spe­cial place to seek out fine wine.

With the sophis­ti­cat­ed, Euro­pean-feel­ing Lit­tle Prince Wine now pro­vid­ing a more inti­mate drink­ing and din­ing expe­ri­ence than the beau­ti­ful pub­lic bar next door, locals to this part of St Kil­da real­ly are spoilt for choice.