First opened in 1914, this grand dame of the South Pacific is about to be restored to its former glory.
Resorts.
As I dashed from the car into the airy foyer, I was rendered speechless. In an era when most of the world’s iconic hotels have blasted out the last of the ghosts through multiple refurbishments, the GPH is a rare bird. Time has not quite stopped altogether here, but it has definitely stood very still.
Such is the ‘time-capsule vibe’ of this hotel, it triggers wild fancies. After checking into the Queen Elizabeth Suite , I swear I spy a glittering sequin in the far corner of the room. Perhaps it was dropped from the “crinoline gown of lacy pale blue” the Queen wore that night, asIn 1912, the paper trumpeted that the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand was spending a staggering £25,000 “on the construction of a magnificent building in Suva”.
Then there were the many disgruntled, damp guests. The roof leaked in several spots from 1914 until the 1960s, when the problem was finally resolved. A separate wing with 45 rooms was added in the ’60s. Australian photojournalist Thomas John McMahon conveyed what all the fuss over the hotel was about in an article published in 1921 in“One thing Suva can boast of is the possession of the most palatial hotel in the Southern Hemisphere ... On steamer days – that is, when steamers are in from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and America – the ‘GPH’, as this comfortable hotel is termed, is a little world in itself ...
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