Banff’s historic Mount Royal Hotel set to reopen in 2018 following devastating fire

Renovating Banff’s Mount Royal Hotel post-fire Kevin Fleming reports on the ongoing renovations at the historic hotel that was damaged in a December 2016 fire.

Brewster Travel Canada has unveiled its renovation plans for a fire ravaged hotel that has been a fixture along Banff Avenue for more than a century.

The Mount Royal Hotel, owned and operated by Brewster Travel Canada, suffered extensive damage during a fire in late December 2016 that was ignited by a propane torch placed near combustible material on the hotel’s roof.

Stuart Back, the company’s vice-president of operations, was among the first to arrive at the scene in the early morning hours of December 29, 2016 as he’s also a member of Banff’s volunteer fire department.

“We were there until about 10:00 a.m.,” recalled Back of the firefighting effort. “Then I went back to the office and took over my day job with Brewster as we dealt with guest concerns and luggage and all of those good things and trying to make sure that all of those people who were impacted were impacted as little as possible.”

“A huge volume of water was being poured on top of the building and into the building for a number of hours during the firefighting activities and that permeated down through the property so there was extensive water damage.”

Back says the hotel was undergoing renovations at the time of the fire and he watched as the remodeling effort was undone in moments.

“I know this property very well and we spent a lot of time and money renovating it in the three years I’ve worked for Brewster replacing carpets and decorating walls,” said Back. “Those same carpets and walls were the things that we were cutting and seeing impacted by the water and the direct effects from the fire.”

Once the fire was extinguished and the damage was surveyed, Brewster Travel Canada officials began to plan the rebuild.

“The first thing was can we return it back to that 1907 look with the big wood structure and the verandas,” said David McKenna, president of Brewster Travel Canada. “Unfortunately, it’s really no longer possible.”

The Mount Royal Hotel opened early in the 20^th century but underwent numerous renovations, including expansions, as the decades progressed. Officials have decided to maintain the building’s vintage flair and recognize the different eras of the hotel while modernizing the building’s plumbing and electrical components.

“There’s been so many significant people that have stayed here over time, so many significant events to the community,” said McKenna. “We’re going to build a bit of a historical exhibit or a small museum in the lobby so that that story is going to be told for years to come.”

Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron, head of archives and library at Banff’s Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, applauds the decision to incorporate the hotel’s past into its renovations.

“I like the fact that they’re celebrating each of the different eras of the building,” said Kundert-Cameron.

She encourages guests to visit the museum to see how the hotel at the intersection of what is now Banff Avenue and Caribou Street has changed over the years. “It’s so neat at the Whyte Museum that you can actually look and see what that corner looked like all the way back from day one right through to current.”

The Mount Royal Hotel is scheduled to welcome guests in the summer of 2018.

With files from CTV's Kevin Fleming