Adapted Accommodation
All Accommodari properties are converted
from other heritage building types.
Introduction
History Overview
Global Presence
Australia
Spain’s Paradors
Intro & Overview
Adapted accommodation is predominantly (but not exclusively) an urban phenomenon
which is evident in all types of accommodation, in all categories (luxury to budget)
and in accommodation properties serving all market sectors
(corporate, leisure, “MICE”, Education & government business).
History Overview
Adapted accommodation [AA] has played a significant role in the history of
visitor accommodation globally and was evident as early as
Pompeii’s House of Sallust which was converted from a residence to a grand hospitium. [DeFelice]
From the 13thcentury, many manor houses in England became inns, and during
the Tudor period following the Reformation, many monastic houses
were converted to Kings Head Inns. [Maskell]
“Hotel” was first used in England for the 1766 conversion of 1630’s
portico houses in Covent Garden. [Sandoval-Strausz]
Other early examples of English adapted hotels include
The Windmill
converted from a synagogue, friar’s quarters,
nobleman’s house, & merchant’s establishment
The Goose & Gridiron
from a Music house
The Rainbow Tavern
from a barber’s shop
The Hummum in Covent Garden
from a hot bathing house. [Shelley]
Following the decline of the continental aristocracy during the 19th century,
many of their palaces were converted to hotels, [Towner]
one famous example being the Royal Danieli in Venice converted
in 1822 from a 14th C palace. [Pevsner]
Adapted accommodation played a prominent role in the American
colonial period, as almost every community had a public house
(inn, tavern or ordinaire) with most converted from residences eg
Fraunces Tavern in NYC [Sandoval-Strausz]
and continued with the conversion of residences, schools &
other older buildings [Sandoval-Strausz]] such as the
America Hotel (1827) on Broadway
converted in 1827 from a town-house.[ Williamson]
Adapted hotels were created to serve International exhibitions such as
when Thomas Cook converted the Mechanic’s Home into a 1,000-people
dormitory–style hotel for London 1851 and converted a large building into basic B&B
and a furnished house into luxury suites for Paris 1867.
A famous adapted hotel is the Ritz Paris of 1898,
converted from a row of late 17th century townhouses. [Withey]
San Francisco rebuilt after the 1906 fire, including 6 apartment buildings
quickly converted to hotels. [Williamson]
Global Presence
A flavour of the extraordinary diversity of the thousands of adapted accommodation
properties throughout the world is evidenced by a selection below.
o Four Seasons Istanbul
converted from a 1918 Turkish prison. [Four Seasons]
o Hotel Fort Canning Singapore
converted from a 1926 former British military command
post [Hotel Fort Canning]
o Waldorf Astoria on the Bund Shanghai
converted from the 1911 neo-classical Shanghai Club.
[Waldorf-Asroria Hotels & Resorts]
o Fullerton Hotel Singapore
converted from the 1928 Singapore GPO (which also
housed the Singapore Exchange, Governor and other offices)
the 1933 Clifford Pier, the 1941 Art Deco Waterboat House and
the 1969 Customs Police Harbour offices. [Fullerton Singapore]
o Waterhouse South Bund Shanghai
converted from a 1930s Japanese Army
HQ building [Architizer]
o TWA Hotel New York
converted from the 1962 TWA
flight centre [Castañeda and Xinying]
o Amerikanlinjen Hotel Oslo
converted from a 1910s industrial
building [Castañeda and Xinying]
o Ace Hotel Kyoto
converted from the 1920 Central
Telephone Office [Castañeda and Xinying]
o Hoxton LA
converted from an early 20th Century
Railway Authority HQ [Castañeda and Xinying]
La Purificadora Hotel Puebla Mexico
converted from a late 19th century ice factory.
[ La Purificadora]
Tai O Heritage Hotel Hong Kong
converted from a 1902 marine
police station. [ Tai O Heritage Hotel]
Australia
Australia’s early colonial period witnessed a similar phenomenon to America as many of the
early inns were Adaptive reuse conversions from residences. [Kirkby, Luckins, and McConville]
Three of the early “fashionable” hotels in Sydney were adapted [McGuire]
The Sydney Hotel and Coffee House
at the SE corner of George & Grosvenor Streets
converted in 1820 from the old residence of the Lieutenant-Governor
Cumming’s Hotel
on Church Hill (subsequently Petty’s Hotel)
converted in 1823 from a Presbyterian minister’s manse
Royal Hotel & associated playhouse
converted in 1829 from a warehouse and
windmill designed by Francis Greenway
and built only 2 years earlier. [McGuire]
Early adapted accommodation was also evident in other parts of Australia incl
Jolly Hatter’s Inn Hobart
converted from a hat factory in 1833.
[Kirkby, Luckins, and McConville]
Hydro at Leeton
adapted from an Immigration Office. [McGuire]
New Norcia Hotel WA,
formerly an 1840s Benedictine Mission
for aborigines. [Davidson and Spearritt]
Rottnest Island accommodation
converted between the wars from an aboriginal
prison, penal settlement, prisoner of war camp
& a boy’s reformatory. [Davidson and Spearritt,]
The Lord Nelson in Sydney’s Miller’s Point
is Australia’s oldest continually operating hotel
and Australia’s oldest existing adaptive reuse hotel,
having been converted in 1842 from a residence originally built
in 1836. [NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage]
The first hotel in Sydney’s Balmain in 1842
was a conversion of the first harbor-master’s residence
[Kirkby, Luckins, and McConville]
The Star Hotel in Macquarie Place
was converted from Simeon Lord’s home, [McGuire]
The Bull & Mouth Mosman
was originally a whaling base.[McGuire]
In 1843, the Pitt St house of John Hosking, Sydney’s first mayor,
was converted to the Metropolitan Hotel while Mayor Palmer owned the
Liverpool Arms at the SE corner of King & Pitt Streets,
which was converted from a watch-house.
The hotels of the mid 19th century served countless purposes including
clubs, marts, exchanges, political forums, council chambers, town halls,
coffee-houses, tea-rooms, and academies.[McGuire]
Adapted accommodation was less prevalent during the
modernist period of the 1950s and 1960s.
The unfortunate legacy of retaining the façade only of heritage hotels
(& other buildings) during the 1970s and 1980s, was part of the impetus for
preservation legislation and many hotels then embraced heritage with a
“progress through preservation” attitude. [Kirkby, Luckins, and McConville]
The 1980s witnessed the re-emergence of adapted Hotels in Sydney [Holliday]
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There were also many others elsewhere in Australia in this period –
The Venetian Gothic-style Menzies Rialto
(now InterContinental) Melbourne
transformed from 1861 wool stores, offices & residences
[InterContinental Hotels & Resorts]
The Italian renaissance-style Treasury Casino & Hotel Brisbane
converted from the 1889 Queensland Government
administration buildings [Brisbane History]
Adelphi Melbourne
converted from a 1938 rag-trade warehouse [Wikipedia]
The neo-baroque Alto Melbourne
converted from the 1916 Unity Hall used by the
Australian Railways Union [Heritage Council, Victoria]
The Edwardian Baroque Rendezvous Flinders St Hotel
converted from the 1913 Commercial Travellers Association
Building [Heritage Council, Victoria]