my photos

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small and wet update



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my photos

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my photos

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Rosewood Hotel Georgia is about to reopen after $120-million restoration


BY JOHN MACKIE, VANCOUVER SUN JULY 8, 2011


The Rosewood Hotel Georgia used to be one of Vancouver’s hot spots. Opened in 1927, it was the hotel where Elvis and Frank Sinatra stayed, the place where Errol Flynn and Rocky Marciano drank, a cultural landmark for generations of Vancouverites.

In recent years, though, it had lost its cachet. It was still a nice old hotel, but didn’t have the room sizes or amenities to compete with newer, flashier hotels like the Pan Pacific, the Waterfront or the Opus.

No more.

In mid-July, the Georgia is slated to reopen after a four-year restoration. It will be part of the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a Dallas chain that operates “one-of-a-kind luxury properties in the world’s most desired locations.”

The refurbished hotel is next door to one of the city’s most striking new buildings, a 48-storey glass condo tower that features a graceful curve on the upper floors. The entire project cost more than $400 million, with $120 million going to the hotel.

The project is still in progress – the condo tower won’t be ready until next year, and the Georgia’s legendary basement bar isn’t slated to reopen until late this year.

But the hotel itself is ready, so The Sun was recently invited to take a peek, escorted by Alessandro Munge, who designed the new interior.

The hotel cost $1.5 million to build back in 1927, and boasted another $1 million in furnishings, making it the swank hotel downtown. It had 320 rooms, a ballroom done up in an Aztec motif and a basement tavern with arched columns that evoked olde England.

When it opened, the Georgia had its own big band orchestra that broadcast live on CKWX. When impresario Hugh Pickett booked Nat King Cole there in the early 1950s, it became the first big downtown hotel to allow black guests. As a result, it became the entertainers’ hotel, which is why everyone from Elvis to Frank to Jayne Mansfield stayed there. (The Beatles booked a room, but the masses gathered outside and they never slept there.)

Rather than rip the guts out of the historic hotel and install a sleek contemporary interior, Munge opted to play up the Georgia’s heritage character while bringing it up to modern standards.

“It would have been easy to destroy it, very easy,” says Munge. “It’s a lot more difficult to preserve it, but that was our objective.”

He brought back the grandeur to the hotel lobby by taking out some ill-conceived add-ons and restoring the space to its original size. He stripped a dozen layers of paint off the wall panelling to reveal the original mahogany underneath. He restored period touches like the elevator dials and the clock above the front entrance.

Then he added a dazzling 9.4-metre (31-foot) long chandelier in the middle of the lobby, which gives the space some wow factor.

“It’s a bit of an Italian/Venetian glass reinterpretation,” Munge says of the chandelier, which was designed by his firm (Munge & Leung) and features crystal cut in the Czech Republic.

“It has a bit of a deco feel to it, in terms of its shape and form. We added layers to that, and reinterpreted it.”

He retained the lobby lounge, installing a beautiful armoire-like bar “that opens up like a big Louis Vuitton bag.” He also made an addition to the lounge that steps down, like a sunken living room, and features a 12-seat sofa.

For many people, their introduction to the new Rosewood Hotel Georgia will be through Hawksworth, a 110-seat restaurant that runs along the Georgia Street side of the building.

It’s visually stunning, opulent without being intimidating.

“We want the room to feel as elegant as it is, but at the same time you can see a guy with a baseball cap,” says Munge, pointing out a customer during the tour.

“You can be dressed up, or dressed down; the concept was to create a room that keeps everybody at the same level.”

There are three themed rooms — the bar lounge, the pearl room, and a room designed around a colourful artwork by Vancouver’s internationally renowned artist Rodney Graham.

“At night it’s gorgeous,” Munge says of the Graham painting, part of more than $1 million in original art in the hotel.

“The uplights behind the banquette gives it a beautiful warm glow, just on the edges.”

The restaurant features all sorts of cool touches – backlit onyx in the bar which seems to glow, a gas fireplace halfway up the wall, and a glass wine room that is one of the main architectural features of the restaurant.

“It’s transparent, you get to see it all,” says Munge. “People are able to come in and sit with the sommelier and decant their wine. You can get to know your wine, get to know what you’re drinking.”

Restaurateur David Hawksworth also runs a 60-seat private dining lounge on the second floor called the York room. On the west wall of the York room is a lovely stained glass window featuring the Georgia’s old logo, which had been hidden behind drywall for decades.

The second-floor conference level had been dingy and cramped after offices were installed. Munge took them out to open up the space, which is now light-filled and welcoming. He also restored the old ballroom, which features a minstrel’s gallery and ornate plasterwork.

On the fourth floor is a dramatic open-air patio between the hotel and tower that will be home to a lunch spot and lounge called Reflections. The patio will “float” on pools and waterfalls, pacifying visitors both visually and sonically.

The fourth floor connects the hotel to the tower through a spa, gym and Olympic-sized pool open to hotel guests and condo residents. There are several glass bits in the base of the pool, which will act as shimmering skylights through to the three-storey high porte cochere where cars and taxis pull up to the two buildings.

“If you look up you’ll see silhouettes of people coming through,” says Munge.

Regardless of all the other improvements, what will make or break the hotel is the quality of its rooms.

As in many old hotels, the Georgia’s original rooms were small. So the decision was made to cut the number of them in half, to 155 from 320.

The standard room is now 325 to 400 square feet, enough space for a sleeping area, a living area, and a deluxe “spa-like” bathroom with a large floating tub, a giant shower and a glassed-in toilet.

The bathroom is accessed through sliding glass doors, the deco-style furniture is stylish, and the wood used in the rooms is an exotic blend of Madagascar ebony, walnut and sycamore. It doesn’t feel like a hotel room; it’s like a mini-apartment.

“For a business traveller, you can easily have someone in here and entertain,” says Munge, a Torontonian who has worked on the MGM Grand and Bellagio in Las Vegas.

“Every piece of furniture [is]custom designed by us, very much in the spirit of the deco period. Everything is of real quality.”

There is an opening special of $192.70, with a minimum two-night stay, but after that, the rooms will go for $295 and up.

The “up” is two penthouses on the top floor. The two-bedroom Lord Stanley suite has 1,280 square feet, the three-bedroom Rosewood suite can be expanded to three bedrooms and 1,492 sq. ft. Both feature a large rooftop terrace with Jacuzzi, barbecue and Zen garden.

But luxury like this comes at a price. The Lord Stanley suite will rent for $3,250 per night, the Rosewood suite will be $4,800.

jmackie@vancouversun.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/5074182.bin?size=620x400
The restored foyer. When it opened, the Georgia had its own big band orchestra that broadcast live on CKWX.
Photograph by: NICK PROCAYLO, Vancouver Sun


http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/5074174.bin?size=620x400
The bathroom is accessed through sliding glass doors, the deco-style furniture is stylish, and the wood used in the rooms is an exotic blend of Madagascar ebony, walnut and sycamore.
Photograph by: NICK PROCAYLO, PNG


http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/5074170.bin?size=620x400
The second-floor conference level had been dingy and cramped after offices were installed. Munge took them out to open up the space, which is now light-filled and welcoming. He also restored the old ballroom, which features a minstrel’s gallery and ornate plasterwork.
Photograph by: NICK PROCAYLO, Vancouver Sun


http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/5072600.bin?size=620x400
The refurbished hotel is next door to one of the city’s most striking new buildings, a 48-storey glass condo tower that features a graceful curve on the upper floors. The entire project cost more than $400 million, with $120 million going to the hotel.
Photograph by: Handout, Files


http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/5072599.bin?size=620x400

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Its almost done..


my photos

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took these pics while I was driving


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Nice building :cheers:

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Interior Photos from Flickr


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the cladding is just about finished.


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Looking good. Very nice cladding overall.

my photos taken today



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Still missing about 15 panels of glass. Those interior shots are stunning though. The interior is easily more luxurious then the Shangri-la.

Just add a little bit fun to my photos today.. :D



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It's been 3 months and they still haven't done shit all lol.

Thanks for the pics, it's looking really good :cheers:

taken today


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From entheosfog of SSP on December 12th 2011

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taken yesterday

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Great updates! :cheers:

Very nice!

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What a great looking building! I think it's a good addition to the Vancouver skyline.