More room for new admirers after veteran gets a facelift

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

The dignified old dame on the doorstep of New Zealand's volcanic plateau playground is having a facelift.

Sitting regally at the base of Mt Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, the Grand Chateau is being extensively refurbished and having 40 rooms added as it approaches its 75th birthday on November 1.

The new wing is the first accommodation extension since the elegant hotel was built in 1929.

It will cater for a further 80 to 90 people, and is being built in response to a growing demand from international and domestic visitors in summer and winter.

To avoid disturbing guests more than necessary, the $6 million expansion is using a Scandinavian system of modular construction.

The rooms are being built in Auckland and, from this week, components have been trucked daily to Whakapapa Village to be put into place by crane.

"It is a production line," said the Chateau's general manager, Kathy Guy. "Most of it should be on site by mid-August."

Once the prefabricated rooms have been erected, a luxurious presidential suite will be conventionally built on the top floor.

The five-storey wing has been designed to replicate the style of the original building.

"One of the main things we set out to do was to maintain the integrity of the old building, which the new plan mirrors," said Mrs Guy.

"It is an incredibly emotive property and we need to ensure we don't lose the charm of its age."

The hotel now has more than 60 bedrooms, ranging from an executive suite to economy rooms. It also has self-contained family and studio units.


The Chateau and Tongariro National Park - recognised as a world heritage area - are marketed strongly as a year-round destination. The outdoor and hotel attractions now draw more visitors in summer than in the winter ski season.

A four and a half hour drive from Auckland and slightly less from Wellington, the site features the highest golf course in the country, 660m above sea level.

Tongariro is on land given by Ngati Tuwharetoa. It was New Zealand's first national park and the fourth in the world.

When the imposing Chateau opened it marked Mt Ruapehu as a resort for New Zealand's elite, attracting leading business, political and social figures.

During World War II, it was used as a mental hospital, then as a recuperation centre for returned servicemen.

After renovations, it reopened in 1948 and was run for many years by the Tourist Hotel Corporation, which started to develop skiing facilities at Top o' the Bruce in 1957. The hotel was privatised in 1990, and was bought by a Singapore company, Kah New Zealand.

The Chateau's 75th birthday will be celebrated with a black tie dinner. The hotel has been asking people associated with it over the years to make contact. Among those to respond have been a man who helped build the resort and the daughter of the first general manager.

Another is a regular guest, Peggy McLaren, 87, who has been visiting annually since she was 15.