Wind blown ice decorates the balcony in winter, whilst inside there is warmth and comfort - click to see another bedroom
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I was to discover that there are many quiet corners and secluded places in this large hotel, the accretion of rooms leading to quirky corridors, unexpected little retreats with views across the valley, or tiny lounges overlooking strategically positioned bird feeders and the gardens behind. The hotel employs its own naturalist, and guests are encouraged to enter their bird sightings in the large book. Recorded there is everything from blue jays and chickadees through American robins the size of small pheasants with brick red breasts, to a pair of bald eagles. The bald eagle is a conservation success story, a bird rescued from the edge of extinction and now to be seen in the 11,000 acres of national park that, in part gifted by the Smiley family, now surrounds the hotel.
Guests were originally brought to the hotel by buckboard from Poughkeepsie station; making this in some ways the equivalent of a British railway hotel (see the Queens Hotel, Leeds) or a Blackpool resort hotel. Unlike the British at the seaside the Mohonk has successfully redefined itself over the years, with the philosophy of the owning family creating a leader in the environmental movement in terms of the operation of the hotel. The hotel operated its own farm supplying much of the produce used in the restaurants, still uses timber from the surrounding woods, taps the maple trees for sap and has just finished renovation of a 19th century wood burning stove to make its own syrup, has its own fire brigade, generates its own power and has its own water supply. These nineteenth century traditions are being expanded by modern green heat exchanger systems as part of the heating but also by the continued use of ‘green’ heating in the form of the log burning fireplaces throughout the hotel. (Green because growing more timber uses up the carbon emissions from burning wood, making it in global warming terms a virtuous circle).
Until recently people arriving by car parked some two miles down the approach road and were brought the rest of the way in horse drawn carriages. This has now been replaced by near invisible car parks located down the hill from the hotel with valet parking. This leaves the hotel isolated from the car to a large extent and with over 80 miles of tracks and pathways through the woods and hills around the hotel the emphasis is on the guest enjoying the great outdoors. In the snow this quietness, a silence virtually unknown now in the UK, where nowhere is out of hearing of road traffic, was even more apparent making the hotel a truly wonderful escape from the modern world, emphasized by the lack of TV’s in the bedroom or public areas.
The latest addition to the hotel builds on this relationship with the environment by the addition of a large luxury Spa. The designers are handling the refurbishment and extension very sensitively. It would be easy to go very contemporary, but there is an inheritance of historic interiors and a need to work in harmony with the building that requires a different approach. One of the attractions of the French chateau or English country house is the timelessness of the interiors, where an eclectic accretion of furniture becomes a style in itself, one that many boutique hotel designers sought to mimic. Coping with snow shoes and skates, skis and boisterous children at one end of the scale through to national figures who seek a discreet and pampering Spa experience poses problems that the hotel is coming to terms with by using its size and different buildings.
Whilst this gives a different feel to elements of the hotel the designers are keeping it all harmonious by the way in which they are using the American chestnut as a key to the schemes. Bedrooms feel traditional but have all modern facilities including air-conditioning additional to many with log fires. The new Spa mimics the chestnut in its interiors, uses open fires again in the relaxation areas, and majors on the spectacular views. Treatment rooms are put under the relaxation zones where they do not have the views, and do not need windows. There are separate male and female treatment and relaxation areas, joined by a communal lounge for those who want to use it – and it is here that there is the log fire.
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When the Spa was constructed, hundreds of tons or rock were removed and much was processed to be used for construction. The only other major additions to the hotel since the early 20th century were the conference rooms in the grounds and a skating rink constructed when the use of the lake for skating started to be considered as a health and safety issue, despite the thickness of ice it acquires in the winter months.
The growth of the hotel through a series of buildings in different materials at different times may cause some problems in the interior flows but certainly makes for an easy transition of architecture.
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Spa relaxation area gives views across the valley below. Click to see the exterior of the Spa, constructed of timber and stone quarried on site
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