Thousands Of Tourists Knew The Lodge

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28629, 4 July 1958, Page 8

Thousands Of Tourists Knew The Lodge

Many thousands of New Zealanders and overseas visitors have happy memories of pleasant weeks spent at the Lodge. The two names—Hanmer and the Lodge—mean almost the same thing. One rarely speaks of one without thinking of the other, so closely linked has the Lodge been to the history of the town and so famous has it become among the travelling public in the Dominion. The Lodge was in two parts—the original part, 61 years old. the modern section only 25 years old. Situated in beautiful gardens, within view of the tennis courts, golf links and bowling greens, and within a few minutes of the bathing pools, the new building was a fine piece of architecture, suggesting old Spain in the design. Indeed, the whole decoration of the building both inside and out, was carried out in a distinctive Spanish style. The celebrated Hanmer Springs were opened in 1883. Since that date many improvements have made the area a favourite pleasure and health resort. For many years national bodies have regarded Hanmer as an ideal conference place and the Lodge has catered for a large number and variety of meetings such as this. The original Lodge at Hanmer Springs was opened by Mr R. W Hood in 1897 on 10 acres of ground which contained both the wooden hotel and a sanatorium. It was a small wooden building, but it at once proved so successful that additions were rapidly made, until 1900 there was accommodation for 30 guests. Mr Hood was earlier proprietor of the Jollie’s Pass Hotel. The new Lodge at Hanmer Springs was completed in 1932 The builder was Mr W. Keir, of Rangiora. The architecture was the design of Mr H. Helmore, of ' Christchurch. The building was constructed of reinforced concrete.

The main entrance hall took in the full width of the building, the main stairway rising from the centre flanked on either side by columns of Mount Somers stone, supporting an arch, the ceiling being heavily beamed with Oregon timber.

With the opening of the new building in 1933 the accommodation rose to provide for 200 guests, and 180 of them could be seated in the dining room at one time.

The structure and finishing* gave an air of comfort and solidity. To the right of the entrance was a 70 x 12ft sun porch. Facing the main entrance was the doorway to the loggia which was 43ft long and 14ft wide with five arches and tile flooring. The loggia gave on to the front terrace which extended for 150 ft from the diningroom recess along the east side of the building. One diningroom was 75ft by 34ft with a recess of 25ft by 17ft, lit by a large plate glass window, the woodwork being highly ornamental. The main corridor, 300 ft long, connected with the old premises at one end, and had a large concrete outside stairway to the ground at the other. The building was also connected to the old premises downstairs. The capacity of the electricity generation plant when installed was 22 one of the sets being a combined heating and generating set, the first to be installed in New Zealand.