Where Melbourne’s Musical Soul Meets Timeless Charm
On the fringe of Port Phillip Bay, where the salty breeze mingles with the hum of amplifiers, stands the Esplanade Hotel—affectionately known to all as The Espy.
More than just a pub, this 144-year-old icon is a living, breathing chronicle of Melbourne’s cultural heartbeat, a place where the echoes of jazz legends, punk anthems, and late-night revelry seep through its timeworn walls.
Opened in 1878 as a grand seaside retreat for Melbourne’s elite, The Espy was designed in ornate Italianate style, its facade a nod to the glamour of Brighton’s coastal resorts.
But luxury hotels don’t stay pristine forever—not in St Kilda. By the 1920s, under the flamboyant ownership of Thomas Carlyon, it had transformed into a raucous jazz-age playground, its Eastern Tent Ballroom alive with the sounds of American-influenced big bands.
Decades later, in the 1970s, the Gershwin Room became a flashing disco inferno, its dance floor a magnet for Melbourne’s nightlife rebels.
The Espy’s survival is a story of defiance. When developers threatened demolition in the 1990s, 9,000 residents rallied, unions boycotted, and the National Trust stepped in.
The compromise? A 10-storey apartment block now looms behind the preserved hotel, a grudging concession to progress—but the soul of The Espy remains untouched.
Music pulses through its veins. Reputed to be Australia’s longest continuously running live music venue, The Espy’s stages have hosted everyone from Paul Kelly (who recorded his 1996 live album here) to international icons like Pixies.
The Gershwin Room, with its upgraded sound system and air conditioning, remains hallowed ground—a space where SBS’s Rockwiz was filmed and where emerging bands still cut their teeth. Downstairs, the Basement Bar’s walls, plastered with rediscovered vintage gig posters, thrum with the energy of tomorrow’s headliners.
After a controversial closure in 2015 and a $100 million revamp, The Espy re-emerged in 2018 as a six-level wonder: 12 bars, three stages, and two restaurants, all connected by the original 1878 grand staircase.
Artist Meg Milton painstakingly distressed new walls to match the building’s original patina, while the Cantonese-inspired Mya Tiger and the Ghost of Alfred Felton cocktail bars—named for the hotel’s resident phantom—pay homage to its eclectic past.
Today, The Espy is as vibrant as ever. Sip a Seaside Spritz in the Beer Garden Terrace as the sun dips behind St Kilda Pier, or lose yourself in the Gershwin Room’s next big gig.
Hunt for hidden 1940s portraits under the stairs, or toast to Alfred Felton’s ghost with a bespoke cocktail.
Whether you’re there for the music, the history, or the sheer thrill of stepping into a Melbourne legend, The Espy delivers—messy, magical, and magnificently alive.
Hotel Esplanade
11 The Esplanade, St Kilda
(03) 9534 0211
hotelesplanade.com.au
