PATRONS of the restored Guildford Hotel will be able to see exposed bricks made by convicts when the heritage building opens again this Thursday at 3pm.
Fratelle Group architects co-director Kylee Schoonens recently told ABC radio listeners they discovered the bricks as part of the restoration project.
“One of the amazing things about this hotel is that because it was built in the 1880s, when we were pulling back a lot of the plaster work, we found original bricks hand-made by convicts,” she said.
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READ NOW“And you can see a lot of the tool marks in the bricks, particularly at the back of the hotel.”
The architects have left some of the timber that survived the fire in 2008, along with signs of the blaze such as the burnt-out remains of a door frame.
“We’ve had so many great comments from people, how much they love the building,” Ms Schoonens said. “We obviously knew how important it was to the Guildford community before we started the project.
“But the way they have embraced us and really wanted us to do the building justice has been really heartwarming.
“And we’ve loved every single moment of it.”