As our country prepares to celebrate its birthday this weekend, the historic Mount Royal Hotel in downtown Banff will celebrate a rebirth of its own on the same day.
More than a year and a half since fire gutted the Banff landmark, the hotel is set to reopen its doors on July 1st. An estimated $45 million was spent on the reconstruction of the Pursuit-owned property, which drew inspiration for the redesign from the hotel’s rich history in the town.
“This has been a long process of uncovering the different iterations, the different designs since the building was first constructed in 1908 and we’ve taken different inspiration from those different developments and those different eras and we’ve embedded that into this new experience,” said Mark Henrickse, VP of marketing at Pursuit. “So guests are going to have these really interesting throwback experiences to some of these different design elements going back to the 30’s, the 40’s, the 50’s and the 60’s in an interesting and unique way.”
“By experiencing all that,” Henrickse added, “we hope that people feel a little more connected to the history of this building as well as to the history of Banff National Park.”
Guests will be greeted by historically-inspired décor while a hotel library and custom designed museum will provide opportunities to learn more about the town’s history, its culture and community. Mountain views can be enjoyed from the rooftop lounge and outdoor hot tubs, while many of the more than 130 guest rooms will also afford visitors views of the Rockies and downtown Banff.
“The experience that we really want people to take away as they go back to their respective corners of the globe is to really understand the rich history that is in the mountains here,” said Gerry Doering, the architect responsible for the redesign. “To understand how the town of Banff has evolved, what the culture here is and to learn a little bit as you stay in the hotel and explore the hotel.”
This is the second time the century-old hotel, located at the corner of Banff Avenue and Caribou Street, has been devastated by fire. Plans to rebuild this time around began almost immediately after the December 2016 blaze.
“Rebuilding was really important to us. This building is without a doubt the heart of Banff. It used to be a community centre for the locals as they would come here for lunch or after work. It was also a hub for people visiting Banff National Park from all over the world. This was a place they could relax after a day of adventure. So bringing that sense of community, bringing that sense of style and design from those different eras was really important to us.” said Henrickse.