Wander the halls and the lobby and even the parking lot of the Retro Suites Hotel in Chatham, Ontario, to discover renovation, restoration, a warm and fuzzy and, at the same time, fresh and bright museum experience along with contemporary artwork from the area and around the world.
Catch yourself singing along to oldies music as you step up close to an original Ronnie Wood painting of Mick Jagger or a multi-coloured steer rustled from Texas, as you walk beneath a 1920s chandelier or an original turn of the century bicycle.
The owner has used local contractors to turn the old Merrill Hotel into 45 luxury boutique suites, seven of which are available for long term accommodation, for months or even years at a time.
You can check out the Retro Suites Hotel website and find the high ceilinged room with the right feel for you.
There is Game Time with hockey jerseys and sports locker. Cottage that will make you feel as though you are at the lake with its loft, four poster rustic bed, board art on the walls and huge windows. If you are the more serious type, the Academic has a periodic table on the wall.
The Palm offers the sensation of water-front living in Florida or on the Mediterranean Sea.
Log Cabin is an over-the-top woodsy, outdoorsy place. Studio provides inspiration from a room filled with artist’s splatter. An easel is your coat rack. The Library is filled with leather and smooth marble, books, and old maps.
Paris provides ooh la la and the Presidential Suite has double high ceilings and an openness emphasized by clean, crisp white and grey stripes, like a President’s tie worn during a formal occasion.
If you are in Chatham on a working trip, Retro Suites provides Taking Care of Business. The chairs and the table have stories to tell.
From the moment you step onto the terrazzo floor and look up at the tin ceilings in the brownstone brick-clad lobby on King Street or pull your car up to the South Beach, Miami –style pink brick façade at the rear entrance to the Retro Suites Hotel, the retrospection, renovation, museum, and arts show begins.
