The Carriage House at Adare Manor
Adare Manor, one of Ireland’s most renowned resort hotels, continues to be renovated as a multi-phase transformation heads towards its final stretch. Committed to providing guests with unrivalled facilities and services, as well as restoring the property to its historic splendour, Adare Manor closed its doors in January 2016 for an 18 month intermission and will debut its new look in Autumn 2017.
When completed, the new Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort will boast a variety of world-class facilities including new guest accommodation, a variety of dining options, an expansive ballroom and a new state-of-the-art spa. Golfing at the resort will also be overhauled with a redesign of the course by Tom Fazio and a renovation of The Carriage House – the restaurant and clubhouse that overlooks the 18th hole.
The Carriage House’s new look has been created by award-winning and market-leading interior design studio David Collins Studio. Established in 1985, the studio was recommended to the team at Adare by a previous client. Speaking to Premier Hospitality, Creative Director Simon Rawlings gave an overview of the project, from initial ideas to the significance of the finished product:
“A large proportion of the carriage house, which is a new construction, needed to tie in with the existing manor house in terms of style but have a bit more of a contemporary feel. I think we were approached because we’re really good at taking combinations of looks and bringing them together.
“We were pretty much let free to conceptualise what we thought would be right for the space. We were brought on after the main manor house had been designed and conceptualised so we already knew what direction that was going in. We understood the look of the building, the operation and the type of people who would be using it. We knew it was going to be used post-golf and as an all-day casual environment.
“We then set off to create a very unique venue plan that allowed for each of the spaces to work independently or talk to each other but at the same time connect to the terrace and the outside space, putting green and golf course.”
Guests arriving at The Carriage House will be met by a huge mural that wraps around the room and will set the scene before passing through the main colonnade to reveal a beautiful wine clad rotunda.
Off this rotunda reveals all of the different spaces including a beautiful leather clad bar, a timber panelled lounge room and a gorgeous restaurant area with a private dining gallery. These rooms are then linked by a terrace with an outdoor kitchen, wood burning oven and cigar lounge. Simon continued:
“All of the rooms have a similarity and detail but an adaption of finish. They all feel interconnected but each has its own personality. I think what you’ll get here is our confidence in the use of colour, with a real sense that all the colours used have been perfected to give rooms a personality. That’s something that is signature in all our work and I think here, even more so, there’s a beautiful, rich depth of colour and material that comes through.
“We’ve worked hard at customising and developing mosaic floors, all of which subtly reference architectural details from the main manor house. There’s a visual connectivity but almost in a reinvented way. I think that’s very special.”
While the grand opening for the entire Adare Manor resort is still a few months off, The Carriage House at least has been designed with longevity in mind, so it looks as good in year ten as it does in year one. The significance of such a high-profile project has not been lost on Simon who is looking forward to the prospect of similar work in the future. He added:
“Personally, this project was something completely unique. To be able to work on a property that has such architectural and historical importance is fantastic. As a studio, to be working in Ireland again where David Collins was born, is really lovely and means a lot to us. It also builds our reputation in golfing resorts around the world and will hopefully lead to more work in this area.”
