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Black-and-white photos on the walls of the recently restored Bar Harbor Club recall an era of unapologetic luxury, when Fords and Kents, Pulitzers and Rockefellers gathered on the shores of Frenchman Bay for a few weeks each summer to celebrate their Gatsby-like good fortune. Built in 1929, on the cusp of the Great Depression, the Tudor Revival-style building hosted gatherings of the well-heeled and well-connected for more than five decades.
But times changed. The devastating fire of 1947 spared the club but cut a swath through Bar Harbor’s wealthy summer community. The town morphed from an exclusive playground for wealthy New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore families into the tourist mecca it is today. And in 1986, faced with declining membership and a decaying infrastructure, the club closed its doors.
There it sat for the next 15 years. Vandals broke out the windows, and raccoons held late-night jamborees on the dance floor. But where locals and visitors saw an outdated eyesore, hotel developer and Bangor native Tom Walsh saw possibilities.
“Mr. Walsh had a vision of what he wanted to build,” says Eric Fredereksen, marketing manager for Ocean Properties, Walsh’s New Hampshire-based company, which owns luxury hotels in Florida, the southwestern United States, and Canada. Its Maine properties include the Samoset Resort in Rockport and the Bar Harbor Regency.
Walsh built his first hotel in Brewer in the 1960s. Today, his company owns more than 100 properties from the Caribbean to the Canadian Rockies. He has been involved in restoration projects before, having bought and restored the 125-year-old Wentworth by the Sea Hotel in New Hampshire, which had been closed for 25 years.
Restoration of the Bar Harbor Club has been a long, expensive, and sometimes painful process, according to Eben Salvatore, director of operations for Walsh’s Bar Harbor interests. Relations between Walsh and town officials became frosty at times, as Ocean Properties sought zoning changes that would allow the reconstruction and reopening of the club. “The zoning was very limiting,” Salvatore says. “Some of the commercial competition put a lot of pressure on the town to turn down the zoning changes we wanted.”
The restoration of the club became possible when Walsh purchased the Golden Anchor Inn next door, which enabled Ocean Properties to redevelop both parcels. The inn was torn down, and the 187-room Harborside Hotel and Marina rose in its place. Though the hotel is a separate business entity, it provides convenient lodging for guests attending functions at the club, which opened for special events in 2004. The Jackson Lab held its 75th anniversary dinner there, and the Bar Harbor Club has hosted fundraisers for the Abbe Museum, Mount Desert Island Hospital, and the local YMCA, as well as several weddings.
But before any of that could happen, all the old wiring and plumbing had to be replaced, many interior walls needed replastering, and the old terra-cotta roof needed to be fixed. “The roof was hard,” Salvatore says, “because they don’t make those kinds of shingles any more. They’re made from pressed clay. We were able to take some shingles from parts of the roof you don’t see from outside the building, and then patch those spots with copper.”
The building’s age and style presented additional challenges. “We tried to preserve as much as we could,” Salvatore says. “A lot of the exterior boards were rotted. And of course we had to replace all the windows, but we kept to the original design, the original colors.”
Inside, the original woodwork has been restored, and the scalloped white plaster pattern has been painstakingly duplicated over those parts of the wall that were replaced. The old chandeliers have been substituted with modern, energy-efficient replicas. A new kitchen has been added, and the basement has been converted into a full-service spa with weight rooms, private showers and locker rooms, massage and pedicure stations—amenities the old club never had in the Gatsby days. The floor is made of Italian marble; the lockers are trimmed with mahogany.
The Bar Harbor Club’s dining room opens out onto a patio that overlooks Frenchman Bay and Bar Island, and a soon-to-be-restored saltwater swimming pool on the shore in front of a new pool house scheduled to be completed by the summer. Tennis courts and a wading pool for kids will complete the scene when the project is finished.
Slabs of quarried granite that define the club’s seaward boundary add to the aura of past glory that encompasses this thoroughly modern resort and conference center. “The property is just top-notch, and exceeds all our guests’ expectations,” Fredereksen says.
The $5 million project received a 2006 Statewide Historic Preservation Honor Award and is on the National Register of Historic Places, rescuing it from the Maine Preservation Society’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places.
Though Walsh was able to finance the restoration himself, without grant money, the cost of the historic rehabilitation was more than anyone anticipated, ultimately turning the project into a labor of love. “It’s going to be years before we see any payback on this,” Salvatore says.
To get the payback started, the club will reopen this year as a membership organization, with a target of 400 to 500 members. A gala black-tie grand opening event is planned for July.
In 1931, Bar Harbor Club members included Edsel Ford, Joseph Pulitzer, and John D. Rockefeller. If there are such things as ghosts, these gents must be glad to have their old haunt back. This time around, they can even have a pedicure.
But times changed. The devastating fire of 1947 spared the club but cut a swath through Bar Harbor’s wealthy summer community. The town morphed from an exclusive playground for wealthy New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore families into the tourist mecca it is today. And in 1986, faced with declining membership and a decaying infrastructure, the club closed its doors.
There it sat for the next 15 years. Vandals broke out the windows, and raccoons held late-night jamborees on the dance floor. But where locals and visitors saw an outdated eyesore, hotel developer and Bangor native Tom Walsh saw possibilities
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“Mr. Walsh had a vision of what he wanted to build,” says Eric Fredereksen, marketing manager for Ocean Properties, Walsh’s New Hampshire-based company, which owns luxury hotels in Florida, the southwestern United States, and Canada. Its Maine properties include the Samoset Resort in Rockport and the Bar Harbor Regency.
Walsh built his first hotel in Brewer in the 1960s. Today, his company owns more than 100 properties from the Caribbean to the Canadian Rockies. He has been involved in restoration projects before, having bought and restored the 125-year-old Wentworth by the Sea Hotel in New Hampshire, which had been closed for 25 years.
Restoration of the Bar Harbor Club has been a long, expensive, and sometimes painful process, according to Eben Salvatore, director of operations for Walsh’s Bar Harbor interests. Relations between Walsh and town officials became frosty at times, as Ocean Properties sought zoning changes that would allow the reconstruction and reopening of the club. “The zoning was very limiting,” Salvatore says. “Some of the commercial competition put a lot of pressure on the town to turn down the zoning changes we wanted.”
The restoration of the club became possible when Walsh purchased the Golden Anchor Inn next door, which enabled Ocean Properties to redevelop both parcels. The inn was torn down, and the 187-room Harborside Hotel and Marina rose in its place. Though the hotel is a separate business entity, it provides convenient lodging for guests attending functions at the club, which opened for special events in 2004. The Jackson Lab held its 75th anniversary dinner there, and the Bar Harbor Club has hosted fundraisers for the Abbe Museum, Mount Desert Island Hospital, and the local YMCA, as well as several weddings.
But before any of that could happen, all the old wiring and plumbing had to be replaced, many interior walls needed replastering, and the old terra-cotta roof needed to be fixed. “The roof was hard,” Salvatore says, “because they don’t make those kinds of shingles any more. They’re made from pressed clay. We were able to take some shingles from parts of the roof you don’t see from outside the building, and then patch those spots with copper.”
The building’s age and style presented additional challenges. “We tried to preserve as much as we could,” Salvatore says. “A lot of the exterior boards were rotted. And of course we had to replace all the windows, but we kept to the original design, the original colors.”
Inside, the original woodwork has been restored, and the scalloped white plaster pattern has been painstakingly duplicated over those parts of the wall that were replaced. The old chandeliers have been substituted with modern, energy-efficient replicas. A new kitchen has been added, and the basement has been converted into a full-service spa with weight rooms, private showers and locker rooms, massage and pedicure stations—amenities the old club never had in the Gatsby days. The floor is made of Italian marble; the lockers are trimmed with mahogany.
The Bar Harbor Club’s dining room opens out onto a patio that overlooks Frenchman Bay and Bar Island, and a soon-to-be-restored saltwater swimming pool on the shore in front of a new pool house scheduled to be completed by the summer. Tennis courts and a wading pool for kids will complete the scene when the project is finished.
Slabs of quarried granite that define the club’s seaward boundary add to the aura of past glory that encompasses this thoroughly modern resort and conference center. “The property is just top-notch, and exceeds all our guests’ expectations,” Fredereksen says.
The $5 million project received a 2006 Statewide Historic Preservation Honor Award and is on the National Register of Historic Places, rescuing it from the Maine Preservation Society’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places.
Though Walsh was able to finance the restoration himself, without grant money, the cost of the historic rehabilitation was more than anyone anticipated, ultimately turning the project into a labor of love. “It’s going to be years before we see any payback on this,” Salvatore says.
To get the payback started, the club will reopen this year as a membership organization, with a target of 400 to 500 members. A gala black-tie grand opening event is planned for July.
In 1931, Bar Harbor Club members included Edsel Ford, Joseph Pulitzer, and John D. Rockefeller. If there are such things as ghosts, these gents must be glad to have their old haunt back. This time around, they can even have a pedicure.
Reader Comments:
Reporter ought to investigate Walsh's complete disregard for laws during this construction.