Stepping over the splintered footprint of a recently removed horseshoe-shaped bar and miscellaneous debris on the floor of the former Harriet Bradford Inn Lounge in Bristol, Ted Barrows pointed to four yellowed windows uncovered as part of renovation efforts there. The natural light, he said, will help show off stained glass pictures of a schooner and an America’s Cup yacht he plans to install when the hotel bar is rehabbed. “You have to have vision when you look at things like this,” said Barrows, who has for more than two years been working on plans to restore the historic Hope Street hotel. The $4 million project could be the centerpiece of efforts to rehabilitate a dilapidated patch of Bristol’s otherwise quaint downtown.
It could also provide much needed hotel space in the East Bay, along with a new hotel proposed for the Bristol waterfront, and provide a boost to the local economy.
Barrows said he started working on a project to revitalize the waterfront area while serving on the Bristol Redevelopment Authority. Though he was not reappointed to the board, the former jewelry manufacturer said he pursued the Belvedere project because no one else was interested and he saw potential.
The Belvedere Hotel, as it was originally called, was built around 1902 by local entrepreneur John B. Herreshoff, who wanted a place where customers of his boat manufacturing company and others in the marine industry could stay. He was president of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., a company founded by his family in 1863, according to Carlton Pinheiro, curator of the Herreshoff Marine Museum.
During its heyday Herreshoff Manufacturing drew a number of visitors to Bristol, while producing eight America’s Cup winning yachts, building the U.S. Navy’s first torpedo boat in 1876 and manufacturing World War II PT boats, Pinheiro said. The hotel was sold after Herreshoff’s death in 1915. The company closed in 1945.
The Belvedere originally had 100 rooms and five floors, including a rooftop restaurant with a breathtaking view of Bristol Harbor. The restaurant, however, was destroyed by a 1928 fire. The hotel changed owners several times – at some point renamed The Harriet Bradford Inn – and eventually fell into disrepair.
Worn, stained carpets now cover the wooden floors. It’s hard to distinguish what color some of the hallway rugs and walls are because of stains. Mattresses stand on end in one hallway. In the hallways on all floors, paint peelings dangle from tin ceilings like stalactites, and paint chips litter the carpet.
“We keep vacuuming once a week,” said Barrows, explaining workers are trying to restore the tin ceilings. “We keep brushing the paint to get as much of it off naturally as possible.”
“It needs to be reborn; it will be a historical, first-class hotel,” Barrows said.
Plans for the hotel – which will once again be named the Belvedere – call for 60 rooms and suites, renovation of the first floor ballroom, adding fire-rated stairwells, rebuilding the restaurant, and tearing down some warehouses for guest parking. They will also create modern bathroom facilities. When the hotel was first built guests shared one bathroom on each floor. At some point, Barrows said, the owners created bathrooms in each room, using flimsy walnut paneling to enclose a toilet and shower.
Barrows wants to have the hotel open by May 1, 2000, but he concedes that could be difficult since there is now a construction worker shortage. Other unexpected pitfalls have also occurred along the way. For instance, it took nearly a year to determine whether the project qualifies for a federal tax credit designed to encourage rehabilitation of historic buildings that generate income.
“I didn’t expect it to take that long to be actually under way,” Barrows said.
At the very least he hopes to have Schooners Tavern on the ground floor opened by late winter.
Residents and town officials have been looking forward to the project’s completion since Barrows bought the building in December 1997. The
Bristol Phoenix newspaper ran an article last week, however, indicating some locals are getting anxious about the long talked about project.
“Hopefully it will all happen,” said Gerhard Oswald, Bristol’s director of community development. “It’s fair to say a large project like this takes time.”
Part of the problem, Oswald said, was getting approval from state and local historic authorities to rebuild the restaurant. Another problem has been financing.
“Hotels are a unique investment field,” Oswald said. “It’s easy to get hotel financing if you’re going to put it in Disneyland, Orlando, Boston or Newport. It’s another story in Bristol.”
“It’s a major project and these things do take time,” said Anne B. Bates, president of the East Bay Chamber of Commerce, which covers Barrington and Warren too.
The project would benefit the entire area, she said, not only by fixing up “one of the biggest eyesores in downtown,” but by increasing the number of hotel rooms available in the area.
Roger Williams University, which is less than 10 minutes away, alone generates big demand for hotel space with events like student orientation and graduation, she said. Many university visitors must stay at chain hotels along Route 6 in nearby Seekonk, Mass., Bates said.
“People call all the time for accommodations on the waterfront you have to go all the way down to Newport to find accommodation on the water,” she added. “I don’t think anybody wants the Newport tourism, but we would like the ability to keep people a little longer in the county.”
The Belvedere is actually one of two hotels now being proposed for Bristol. Another developer obtained permits to build Thames Street Landing, which would have about 40 rooms and be located on the water, Oswald said. Construction could begin next year.
Barrows’ project, which still needs some permits from the town’s zoning, planning and historic boards, could also help generate more activity along the town’s main street from shoppers and restaurant visitors, Oswald added. “It gives a greater sense of vitality, activity this is a place to stop and see what’s going on.”
“This is really a centerpiece building in the town,” Barrows said. “People are really excited and anxious to see it; not any more anxious than I am.”
Barrows said opening day will be very special for him. “I will be very excited that first martini on the roof will be very significant,” he said.
