The Lennons Broadbeach hotel

The Lennons Broadbeach Hotel

‘’ Queensland’s most palatial hotel’’

After World War 2, the Gold Coast developed and expanded rapidly. On the Gold Coast the post-war ‘’construction boom’’ commenced when the planning restrictions were lifted in 1952. Especially in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach there was a rapid development of holiday accommodations. One of those holiday accommodations was the Lennon Broadbeach hotel. The hotel featured several poolside attractions including a fountain created by Len Shillan, a sculptor from Brisbane. Even if the hotel was only five stories high, it was the tallest building on the coast. Dr Karl Langer designed the Lennon Broadbeach hotel, and the hotel was completed in 1957 and it opened on December 17. When the hotel was build, it dominated the local landscape, being the lone structure surrounded by sand. They build the hotel on a site, which had been mined for mineral sand, and the hotel was often promoted as an oasis in the sand. The Lennons Broadbeach hotel was heralded as ‘’ Queensland’s most palatial hotel’’ but failed to attract the number and calibre of visitors, the Lennons Broadbeach hotel was not a financial success so the doors closed and the hotel was demolished in 1987. That was only 30 year after the doors opened. Two year after the Lennons Broadbeach hotel was demolished the Oasis shopping centre was open.

The Lennons Broadbeach hotel had many popular attractions, and one of them was the private bar. In the 1950’s clean lines, minimalism and unexpected colours like pastels dominated the last years of the decade. The windows by the door were placed in an asymmetrical order, with different placings, size and form, but even if the windows are different sizes and forms there is straight lines separating them. In some way we can discuss if that makes them look symmetrical. The different colours on the glass can be a method they used to set the mood with natural light, because there were a lack of artificial lighting.

When it comes to the materials, we can see solid materials like wood and stone on the fixed furniture. The floor, bar and walls where in stone materials, which indicate that the bar was made to substain hard use, and it can look like it was hosed down after closing,

In the late 1950’s minimalism was a big part of interior design, and the design choices in the private bar reflects that period. We can see that the bar has minimal furnishing, with only two tables and minimal seating. This can mean that the public bar was a place of movement, that people came there to mingle and be social, not to seat down and relax.

If you visit a hotel bar in 2015 you will be met by dimed lightning, soft and warm textiles, and often there is a lot of details and beautifications. Sometimes you will get the feeling that aesthetics is more important than function and sustainability because furniture and interior is made for mass production so quantity is often more important than quality, even if we have accesses to more sustainable materials today. One reason for this is that interior design has changes and become so much more important than it was 60 years ago, and when it comes to the Lennons Broadbeach hotel, the fixed furniture were built with more sustainable materials than the bars you find in Broadbeach today. The materials speaks for them self, by using earth made materials like stone, glass, wood and brick it is clear that they made the furniture to withstand a lot harder and longer use than furniture today.

If you go into the Envy hotel in Broadbeach today you can see that there is a big different on the expression from the Lennons Broadbeach hotel and that seating is a big part of the interior. To give the costumer the best experience possible it is important that they can come in, relax, and have the opportunity to sit down and get a drink, something the Lennons Broadbeach hotel private bar was missing.

If the Lennon Broadbeach hotel were standing today, it would have been a bit outdated for 2015. The way the hotel was build and the floor plan makes it non-functional for the standards hotels have today, and that is why mostly people with the appreciation for the hotels history would have found the hotel interesting if it was still standing today.

One major problem with the Lennons Broadbeach hotel was that it change owners many times in the thirty years it was standing, but what they did not realise was that the interior was the problem, and they only focused on the facade by chancing it several times. By making the hotel new on the outside, they hoped for a more modern expression, but failed to bring in tourists. Also the fact that the hotel was located in Broadbeach and not Surfers paradise, helped with the lack of success for the Lennons Broadbeach hotel.

If I were going to change anything, I would have focused on giving the private bar more seating, so the guest would not have to take their drink elsewhere to enjoy it in a relaxing environment. The benches that are placed along the walls would be considered a smart and functional solution, but the fact that there is missing some relief for drinks and other servings, the benches loses their function. I would also focus on giving the working area behind the bar some functional solutions to get a cleaner expression. If the option were to restore the Lennons hotel Broadbeach, I would have looked at the opportunity to make the private bar a bigger space, and making it more useable for the guests at the hotel. By tearing down the wall, that is separating the private bar and the lounge, the room will get a much more functional floor plan whit a lot more opportunities for the space.

When it comes to demolishing or keeping the Lennons Broadbeach hotel there are many arguments for and against, but something had to be very wrong for them to demolish a building that big. Was it the money? Was it the fact that the building was poorly build and there was no way to restore it? Was it the location of the hotel? We can wonder about if the Lennons Broadbeach hotel was located in Surfers Paradise the hotel would still be standing today.

The most important thing I have learned is how important it is to understand that interior design is an Anachronism. Because while analysing and talking today about how important the interior were for the Lennons Broadbeach hotel, it would not be as important when the hotel was build or when they demolished it. Something that is so crucial for making a hospitality space a success in 2015, did not exist on the same level 60 years ago, therefore making it difficult to analyse. While studying the Lennons Broadbeach hotel I have learned about the material they had accesses to in the late 1950s, and the limited opportunities they had when it comes to materials and design, and the way they had to use natural lightning, were a designer today would have used artificial lightning to set the mood.