31/03/2024
Happy Easter everyone. A bunch of people have asked me to give an update on what is happening at the Hotel.
For those who don't know it, this is the historic 112-year-old Masonic hotel on Duke Street in Cambridge. We are restoring it to a premium 29-room hotel with spacious luxuriously appointed guest rooms, restaurant and courtyard looking over the landscaped gardens. It will have wine bar and café as well as a speakeasy cocktail bar (with a stage) in the original 158-year-old basement. There will be conference facilities including a conference room and boardroom.
Many will have noticed the new elevator and fire stair building at the rear of the hotel is now complete and looking very smart. The scaffolding will be coming down next Monday.
The front of the hotel has been stripped and is being repainted and looking amazing. The balcony will soon be removed and rebuilt back to its original design including adding back the beautiful, ornate cast-iron columns which we found and had restored.
The two top floors of the hotel are flying along. The large Attic level rooms all give great views across Cambridge and the hills and mountains beyond and the large rooms on the 1st floor with their 3.3m ceilings are also coming along really well.
The underpinning and strengthening of the hotel is complete. The massive hole at the back of the building now has a steel structure inside it ready for the concrete roof to be poured in the next few weeks. This will be a huge milestone allowing us to build the Gallery restaurant, the courtyard, the commercial kitchen and begin the landscaping.
Thank you to everyone for your patience and for giving such positive feedback and support for this restoration. It has definitely taken longer than we had initially hoped. (Which I think is inevitable when dealing with an old building of this size). We will be announcing an opening date very soon.
Trust me, it will be well worth the wait!
Once again, this is a big 'shout out' to any independent builders and labourers, even plasterers and tilers who might like to join our construction team. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in restoring one of Cambridge's iconic historic buildings. If you don't mind hard work, are a team player, and feel you can help in any way, please message me and we can discuss.
Regards Gerry
