The Oxford Scholar Hotel has watched over Swanston Street since 1857. Before it closed in 2017, it was a simple university pub, the site of countless post-lecture pints, and more than a few pre-lecture beers, too. But its closure still stung. Was Melbourne losing another grand 19th-century pub?

But with its country-pub-style carpets and limited food offering, the old Scholar was beginning to show its age. RMIT, which owns the Scholar – its official name is Building 81 – had no plans to abandon it. Instead, the university committed to a comprehensive refresh.

RMIT approached architecture firm March Studio, which has designed some of Melbourne’s most unique venues, including Section 8 and Baker D. Chirico, for the space’s reimagining. March Studio founder Rodney Eggleston is an RMIT alum, so this was a personal project for him.

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“If anyone went to RMIT, then the chances are they’ve had a beer at The Oxford Scholar,” he says. “It has that institutional feel to it, but it was long overdue for a makeover.”

Now, the front bar’s dark furniture and carpeting are gone, replaced by brass and timber highlights, booth seating and high tables. Out the back, there’s an amphitheatre area with raised floors and glass ceilings that can be hired for screenings and events.

March Studio incorporated thoughtful modern touches throughout the space. Booths can fit 12 people (enough for a large study group) and there are plenty of power points under each booth to keep laptops firing.

Tweed – the archetypical tertiary fabric – was a big inspiration for The Scholar’s redesign, both in terms of texture and geometry.

“We decided to have these three different hierarchies of tweed,” says Eggleston. “We took those textiles and patterns and began abstracting them through the space to drive the ways in which we designed those interiors.

“You’ve got your twill, which is your student tweed. Then you’ve got herringbone, which is more of a tutor tweed. And the last one is houndstooth – and only a real professor can don houndstooth.”

The ceiling is covered in dark plywood, slotted and criss-crossed to resemble one big houndstooth jacket.

“It was about taking those traditional motifs like tweed and brass and using them to create [something] more contemporary,” says Eggleston.

All the beers – on tap or in bottles and cans – are crowd-pleasers, with an emphasis on easy-drinking ales. Most by-the-glass options hover just above the $10 mark, and considered gin and whisky lists round things out.

Start with haloumi or sweet-potato fries, or Korean beef ribs with pickled cucumber. For a light meal, try the poke bowl with salmon, broccolini, avocado, pickles and soba noodles, loaded with fresh herbs and a salty-soy dressing. More sizeable is the pork cotoletta with a fennel and apple salad, or a classic pub parma that comes with salt-and-vinegar fries.

The burger selection is fun. The chicken katsu burger comes with pineapple, barbeque sauce and cheddar. And a soft-shell crab – claws and all – is stuffed inside a brioche bun with fiery hot sauce and wombok. The pick of the bunch, though, has to be the cola-braised beef short-rib burger. It comes on a buttermilk bun with onion rings and the bone is left in to keep the meat flavourful and moist. You theatrically slide it out just before you dig in.

The Oxford Scholar
427 Swanston Street, Melbourne
(03) 9964 6976

Hours:
Mon to Fri 8am–12am
Sat 12pm–1am
Sun 12pm–11pm

theoxfordscholar.com.au

This article first appeared on Broadsheet on August 5, 2019. Menu items may have changed since publication.