Grand Hotel (Former) is a prominent building on Dee Street, Invercargill’s main road, and was constructed in 1912-1913 on a site long connected with the hotel trade. Apart from a brief period as a student accommodation provider from 1999-2007, the building has otherwise remained in the hotel business, accommodating a wide variety of people including royalty, and more recently, the homeless. Designed by notable local architect C.J. Brodrick, Grand Hotel (Former) has architectural, historical and social significance.
In May 1910, the Prince of Wales Boarding House on Dee Street closed, after decades of business. By the mid-1911, it was reported that the Prince of Wales Proprietary Company intended ‘to erect a large building on the old Prince of Wales site.’ In May 1911, C.J. Brodrick was completing the plans – four storeys and covering the whole site, with a frontage of over 60 feet (18.3 metres), and a depth of over 165 feet (50.3 metres). Shops and a billiard room were planned for the ground floor. In June 1911 the site was purchased by the Invercargill Licencing Trust in order to establish ‘hotels and suitable places for the sale and supply of refreshments.’ In July 1911 the Grand Hotel Company, Ltd was registered with subscribers including the architect Brodrick himself. The business of the company was to run ‘a private or public boarding house, café, or restaurant.’
Completed in 1913, the Grand Hotel was lavishly described in the Southland Times as ‘a palatial building’, one of the ‘most important building ventures in Invercargill’ and evidence of ‘the growing commercial importance of the town.’ The three-storey building is an early example of using reinforced concrete columns and beams with a brick facade. Ionic columns and pilasters were set behind protruding ornate curved balconies with decorative balustrades on each floor of the northern elevation. The hotel’s lounge was on the first floor, as was the dining room. The front of the building overlooking Dee Street was taken up with the ‘commercial room’ and the ‘ladies’ room’, and a large writing room. The ‘lofty rooms’ were ‘pretentiously furnished’ with white plaster walls and rimu woodwork. The bedroom accommodation was on the second and third floors and two sitting rooms opened onto the balcony on the second floor. The ground floor included shops, some of which had been populated in 1912.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed overnight at the Grand Hotel during the 1954 Royal Tour and the Queen made her final broadcast to the nation from the lounge of the hotel before departing from Bluff. In the 1960s the hotel’s rear wall was removed to install a lift, and was replaced with a largely concrete wall. Southern Institute of Technology tenanted the building for student accommodation from 1999 until the building’s sale in 2007. A hotel again from 2009, the owners of ‘the Grand' began to restore the 51 rooms and common area. It was rebranded as a boutique hotel and the original billiard room was converted into an internal car park. In 2016 a research project was launched to record the history of the hotel and one of the unused bar rooms was opened up for use by the community. From June 2019 to March 2020 Habitat for Humanity managed the hotel and provided accommodation for over 700 homeless people a month. In 2020 the Grand Hotel (Former) continues operation, trading as The Grand Accommodation.
In May 1910, the Prince of Wales Boarding House on Dee Street closed, after decades of business. By the mid-1911, it was reported that the Prince of Wales Proprietary Company intended ‘to erect a large building on the old Prince of Wales site.’ In May 1911, C.J. Brodrick was completing the plans – four storeys and covering the whole site, with a frontage of over 60 feet (18.3 metres), and a depth of over 165 feet (50.3 metres). Shops and a billiard room were planned for the ground floor. In June 1911 the site was purchased by the Invercargill Licencing Trust in order to establish ‘hotels and suitable places for the sale and supply of refreshments.’ In July 1911 the Grand Hotel Company, Ltd was registered with subscribers including the architect Brodrick himself. The business of the company was to run ‘a private or public boarding house, café, or restaurant.’
Completed in 1913, the Grand Hotel was lavishly described in the Southland Times as ‘a palatial building’, one of the ‘most important building ventures in Invercargill’ and evidence of ‘the growing commercial importance of the town.’ The three-storey building is an early example of using reinforced concrete columns and beams with a brick facade. Ionic columns and pilasters were set behind protruding ornate curved balconies with decorative balustrades on each floor of the northern elevation. The hotel’s lounge was on the first floor, as was the dining room. The front of the building overlooking Dee Street was taken up with the ‘commercial room’ and the ‘ladies’ room’, and a large writing room. The ‘lofty rooms’ were ‘pretentiously furnished’ with white plaster walls and rimu woodwork. The bedroom accommodation was on the second and third floors and two sitting rooms opened onto the balcony on the second floor. The ground floor included shops, some of which had been populated in 1912.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed overnight at the Grand Hotel during the 1954 Royal Tour and the Queen made her final broadcast to the nation from the lounge of the hotel before departing from Bluff. In the 1960s the hotel’s rear wall was removed to install a lift, and was replaced with a largely concrete wall. Southern Institute of Technology tenanted the building for student accommodation from 1999 until the building’s sale in 2007. A hotel again from 2009, the owners of ‘the Grand' began to restore the 51 rooms and common area. It was rebranded as a boutique hotel and the original billiard room was converted into an internal car park. In 2016 a research project was launched to record the history of the hotel and one of the unused bar rooms was opened up for use by the community. From June 2019 to March 2020 Habitat for Humanity managed the hotel and provided accommodation for over 700 homeless people a month. In 2020 the Grand Hotel (Former) continues operation, trading as The Grand Accommodation.
