One of my photography passions is photographing some of our country's old buildings, this is one is packed with history. Hotel de Brett's is located on the corner of Shortland Street and High Street, it's listed as category 2 under the Historic Places Trust.
These days it's a boutique hotel but it first opened in 1841 known as "The Old Commercial" being Auckland's first hotel. It operated for 118 years until a fire burned most of it down, Dominion Breweries refurbished it in 1959 and renamed it what it is today.
In the 1980s I worked in Auckland city for about 1 years and remember this old icon well as it has hosted many kiwi bands such as Th'Dudes and Hello Sailor. In the late 1980s it became a backpackers hostel then in 2006 four hoteliers returned it to it's former glory.
The interior is a mixture of NZ art and design with retro 1950's chairs and couches - I'm pleased it's still being used personally. As for the spots on the road I've since found out that Auckland City Council had them painted due to this particular place being being a high pedestrian used road. They are meant to draw awareness from all road users to be sensitive to other road users - it's a good idea and should be used in other places too I think.
Linking up with Our World Tuesday.
15 comments:
A fascinating history of the building. The spotted road is even more fascinating.
Loved reading about that old hotel. Reminds me of some I used to frequent in Wellington many many years ago
Love the polka dot road and agree the reasoning for it is good. Fun to read the hotel history (and a little bit of your own!). Those first jobs memories stay with us!
That's a lovely old building. I love it when cities preserve existing buildings. Thanks for sharing its history.
I love the de Brett and wouldn't mind spending a night there.
Does not look much like a hotel, more a department store.
Flapjack, follow this link for a recipe, might add it is very sweet least the one I make is.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/yummy-golden-syrup-flapjacks
It really is good when these old buildings get a new lease of life Amy. Enjoyed the link to Hotel de Brett, very cool spot, the multi coloured spiral staircase is fabulous
Good to hear the hotel has been restored. Never seen a road decorated with spots before. It will be interesting to see if it reduces accidents.
It's wonderful that it has been restored. It's a great looking place. I love the idea of those spots in the road.
Nice shot
That’s very cool. An interesting old building. I love it when buildings are repurposed. I love the idea of the spots on the road. I have never seen anything like it. We need to do that in Tulsa where I live.
Great photo of an intriguing building with history ~
Happy Moments to You,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Beautiful architecture.
I remember my late husband mentioned that his grandparents stayed at de Brett's although it would have been the The Old Commercial in those days. How is the house hunting going?
Well, because there are high volumes of people looking for rentals up there we missed out on the last 3 properties we went for, we have another viewing tomorrow, fingers crossed.
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