12 | Historic hotel brought back to life The sympathetic restoration makes the most of the hotel’s original features. Clements Hotel T T Virginia Wright REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Twelve years ago, Gerry Westenberg and his partner Jo Pannell bought Cambridge’s old Masonic Hotel, unable to resist the building’s obvious charm despite years of neglect, and knowing that in the wrong hands it risked being lost for good. “We saw this beautiful, historic building – over 100 years old,” Gerry says. “It sat nicely on the street and had the beautiful original features throughout it, albeit in disrepair. We thought we’d be able to do something with it, although we weren’t sure what at that stage.” Other historic buildings in Cambridge had been torn down in the face of expensive seismic strengthening, which was also needed on the Clements, but Gerry and Jo were determined they didn’t want it demolished. The much less expensive option would have been to strengthen, paint, and convert the building into office spaces, but their own feeling for the building was reinforced when they read the detail of its history in the Heritage Report, which is part and parcel of purchasing a listed historic building. “It not only talks about the building, but also the history of the site and the original timber Masonic Hotel, which had been commissioned by an amazing character called Archibald Clements in 1866, but burned down in 1911. Then, one of New Zealand’s most renowned architects, John Currie, designed the new hotel in the Beaux Arts style, which was prominent in Europe at the time,” says Gerry. Convinced that putting the extra money into the restoration of the building was worthwhile to make the most of the original features, such as the sweeping staircase, spacious balconies and stained-glass windows, Gerry and Jo then had to convince Heritage New Zealand, as well as the bank, of a way forward that would create the large rooms with bathrooms needed for the building. Research with architects, international hotel specialists and local consultant Trevor Swinburne helped Gerry and Jo arrive at the plan they took to Heritage New Zealand. They couldn’t change the exterior of the building, but they needed to do something internally that would give them enough rooms to merit the expense of preserving many of the hotel’s original features, while transforming it into the contemporary, boutique, luxury accommodation it has become. The key was building up into an existing large attic space, explains Gerry. “The senior conservation architect for Heritage New Zealand’s northern region, Robin Byron, was amazing to deal with. She gave us clear boundaries, but also permission to lift the roof 1.5 metres that gave us the room to have spacious, almost European-style hotel rooms in that higher space with big dormer windows. “They just feel so beautiful to go into, and this allowed us to generate the revenue needed to support not only the seismic strengthening and all the fire safety requirements, but also the very expensive high-end retrofit we knew it deserved.” Gerry made it clear when briefing the architects that he wanted the entrance to be beautifully restored to give a sense of walking back in time, without being stuffy, while transitioning guests smoothly into top-of-the-line contemporary comforts on every level. Having lived in New York and Chicago, Gerry drew on personal experience when they converted the original 150-year-old basement into an authentic underground speakeasy cocktail bar named 1866. Together with their other wining and dining options, the Clements Hotel has added a new dimension to Cambridge’s hospitality scene. Guests leave nothing but glowing reviews, and Gerry and Jo are pleased to have restored the Clements Hotel back to the community, complete with all the comforts of modern hospitality while remaining steeped in a history that brings added depth to its timeless elegance. We're about places for people apgarchi tects.com APG Architects are proud to support Clements Hotel.
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