A historic Kingston landmark, the Belvedere Hotel, is closing its doors after 35 years.
The owners of the King Street hotel say their business is another casualty of the the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This wasn’t a quick decision last minute or anything, it was back and forth, ‘What do you think? Are we going to make it — are we not.?’ So in the end we decided ‘Let’s just go now,'” said Donna Mallory, owner of the Belvedere.
The building has been a fixture in the community since the mid-1880s, but the structure itself isn’t going anywhere — it’s just the hotel that is closing-up shop.
“It was my husband’s idea actually to open the hotel — and I just thought — that’s the greatest because it was sort of a dream come true for me cause — we liked renovating and I liked decorating,” Mallory continued.
She says since they decided to close, the response has been overwhelming.
“Letters, and we still get them, from people wishing us all well and talking about their memories and how happy they were to spend time here — how they’ll miss it,” she said.
When asked what was so special about the building, Mallory said the aesthetic really hit home with visitors.
“It was calming and peaceful — if they wanted a vacation they got it. If they were working they had the space and the quiet to do that in,” she said.
All the furnishings inside the historic building will be sold at auction on Saturday.
“We coined this building the ‘grand dame’ of King Street and I believe that’s very, very true,” said Robin Pridham, the auctioneer who will be handling the hotel’s items.
“It’s just such an iconic building — an iconic business really of Kingston — and that part of it is just sad to see go,” he said.
Pridham says Saturday’s auction will be an emotional one, since he was one of Hotel Belvedere’s most loyal customers, staying at the hotel — according to him — hundreds of times.
For Mallory, the decision to leave wasn’t an easy one, but she won’t be leaving empty handed.
“It is the end of an era for me and but I just have so many wonderful memories,” Mallory said. .