Fun interiors set for Oddfellows On The Park
Set to open in summer 2016, Oddfellows On The Park is currently being transformed from the 19th century mansion Bruntwood Park - located within 100 acres of parkland - into a 22-bedroom hotel with a restaurant, cocktail bar, event space for up to 120 guests and spa.
Jonathan Slater, previously managing director of the Chester Grosvenor, who is now overseeing the expansion of Oddfellows Hotels, said the development of the hotel involves the restoration, rather than conversion, of the Victorian Gothic Revival building which he describes as being "close to perfection".
"From the galleried staircase to the stained glass roof light high above reception to the original flooring in the bar and the amazing Jacobean-style ceilings throughout - we'll restore and repair but we won't replace or rip out."
Manchester company SpaceInvader is creating the new interiors, which will have a nod to the original owner's Scottish roots through decorative thistles, tweed and tartans.
Designer Katie Crossley said: "True to the Oddfellows sense of fun, this is no pastiche of a Victorian hall, but instead an interpretation with a sense of playfulness. Instead of stags' heads, taxidermy will be interesting and modern, light hearted and fun. Yes - as in the 19th century - a chandelier will hang from the ceiling, but its working parts are more BMX than glass."
The restaurant is set within the original ballroom of the house, with wire mesh geese flying across the original decorative ceiling cove and gun lamps on the round tables.
There will be four bedroom categories: park rooms, club rooms, five playground suites and one bridal suite.
Paul Cookson, currently general manager at the 18-bedroom Oddfellows in Chester, will move to the new hotel, in the same role, in spring 2016.
Owned by two brothers, one of whom is a surgeon and the other a chief financial officer, Oddfellows was named after the Oddfellows Society - well known as the society of misfits - that at one time occupied the building where the Chester hotel is now located.
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