New Hampshire lost a natural treasure over the weekend in Franconia Notch.
But the Granite State is getting a historic landmark back next week on in the Seacoast.
The Wentworth by the Sea is scheduled to re-open in New Castle on May 15.
After being closed for two decades, the 129-year-old resort and spa has been expanded and updated.
NHPR correspondent Brian McWilliams reports.
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On this coastal hilltop in New Castle, some 150 workmen wield nail guns, chop saws and other TOOLS.
They're REVIVING the Wentworth by the Sea.
THE GRAND HOTEL HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR 20 YEARS.
The 25-million-dollar project IS ADDING two new wings to the hotel.
SOON GUESTS WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY MODERN amenities like air conditioning, heated bathroom floors, and high-speed Internet connections.
The hotel's new owners, Portsmouth-based Ocean Properties, say the TURRETED white VICTORIAN hotel will be ready for guests May 15th.
But walking the Wentworth's halls, you'd never believe it.
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The round dining room, which overlooks the Picataqua River, is still unpainted and has no lighting fixtures.
A crew is trimming out windows.
The floor isn't in yet.
But Ocean Properties vice president Tom Varley motions upward to the ceiling, where a century-old cupola has been preserved.
"As you can see it's a large dome about 30 yards in diameter. It's hand painted with cherubs and angels, with gold leaf along the edges and along the sides. It's going to be the focal point of the new restaurant, as it was during the 1900s."
Upstairs, the hotel's 160 guest rooms are nearly ready.
Varley stops by the open door of an airy room with fresh green carpeting and dark brown furniture.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the marina.
"One thing that's fabulous about this resort is that every room has a water view, and that's as it was 120 years ago and that's why they chose the location. It's the highest spot in New Castle, and you're surrounded by water on all sides."
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Outside, workers position a giant telescoping boom lift to put finishing touches on the Wentworth's mansard roof.
It's hard to imagine that just a few years ago, that crane might instead have been swinging a wrecking ball.
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WHEN OCEAN PROPERTIES BOUGHT THE HOTEL IN 1997, the Wentworth had stood shuttered, gutted, its paint peeling, for 15 years.
A major change in the lifestyles of the rich and famous who frequented the Wentworth drove the resort out of business in 1982.
"The great resort era faded. Things changed. People no longer put 10 steamer trunks onto a train, packed their servants onto the train, and went away for 2 months. That whole concept of what the wealthy do has changed."
PORTSMOUTH AUTHOR Dennis Robinson is writing a history of the Wentworth.
Robinson says that the resort quickly became dilapidated after owners James and Margaret Smith sold the property to a Swedish company in 1980.
"It looked terrible. Jim Smith himself, before he died, said it looked like a 100-year-old lady on a bad day. But, it was structurally very good. It was really a solid building, which is how it was able to be gutted and rebuilt."
The Wentworth needed a buyer with big ambitions and a good banker.
A local historic preservation group called the Friends of the Wentworth brokered A deal.
They arranged to have Ocean Properties BUY the resort for 3 million dollars from a Massachusetts developer WHO wanted to raze the place TO put up condos.
The Friends of the Wentworth ALSO helped smooth objections from LOCAL residents CONCERNED ABOUT CONGESTION.
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The new Wentworth by the Sea will have fewer but larger guest rooms than IT had during its heyday.
The renovation also creates more ballrooms and meeting spaces for corporate and social functions.
A full-service spa with an indoor pool is DUE TO OPEN mid-June.
AND BY JULY, GUESTS CAN BEGIN ENJOYING a group of super-luxury 1,000 square-foot suites OPENING ON TO THE MARINA.
Ocean PROPERTIES’ Tom Varley says THEIR MARKET IS upscale folks who want to escape for a weekend or more to a place that's got something special.
"People are looking for that. They're looking for an experience. When you walk into this hotel, you are going to have all the amenities of a modern hotel, but you are going to feel like you are going back in time about 50 years."
Rates start at just over 100 dollars a night and go way up.
Hotel experts say such high-end resorts are a thriving niche these days.
But the challenge is to STEADILY PLOW cash back in the resort's infrastructure.
PROFESSOR Steve Carvell TEACHES FINANCE AT Cornell University's Center for Hospitality.
"Because you kind of starve the property over the years, what happens eventually is that the property declines so that people don't want to re-visit it. And it really doesn't take much to turn the future potential of a property around on the negative side by not investing in it."
Historian Dennis Robinson says his hunch is that since the Wentworth has made it this far, the grand resort is probably going to be around for a long time.
"It survived the Depression. It was open through World War I. It closed only for two years during World War II. It is the focal point, the nexus, of the most historic spot in New Hampshire. And I think a lot of people are going to re-discover that."
For NHPR News, I'm Brian McWilliams.
