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The Grand Rapids Press, Sunday, July 26, 1959

Ultra-Modern, 2-Story Motel
at Charlevoix Will Be-One of
Michigan's Finest

View from US 31 shows front of new, modernistic motel going up at Charlevoix.

Balconies from suites can be seen on side of Weathervane Lodge facing Round Lake.

SOMETHING new is changing the landscape at Charlevoix. It's a large, two-story, 37-unit motel on US31 within the city limits.

The $500,000 structure is now nearing completion and is expected to be open by the first week in August. Charlevoix, Detroit and Chicago investors formed The Pines, Inc., to finance the construction. The imposing building with an open court will have three circular stairways inside towers. Patio balconies from the suites will overlook Round Lake. Room interiors will be of mahogany, walnut and ash, with the exterior in California redwood and natural native stone.

"Besides the three stairways, the building will have a passenger elevator which we believe will make Weathervane Lodge the only two-story motel to have such a facility," said Julius W. Gilbert, president of The Pines, Inc.

$50,000 for Furnishings

OTHER services and facilities will include bellboys, a 20 x 40-foot swimming pool, a solarium roof, a continental breakfast free of charge for each guest, and telephone in all the rooms.

Work on the 500-foot-long, three-sided building began last April 28. Furnishings by a Detroit interior decorator are expected to cost$50,00O, Gilbert said.

"This has been a long-time dream for many of us," Gilbert explained. "It's a costly project, but we have confidence in Michigan and in tourism and, as for me, I'm in love with this area."

Weathervane Lodge will co-operate with the winter sports areas in the locality and will be open the year around. It will cater to ski week groups, conventions and honeymooners during the months when tourist traffic declines.

 

 

Three towers such as this one will enclose circular stairways of Weathervane Lodge. The motel also will have a passenger elevator even though the building is only two stories high.

Robert F. Barnett of East Jordan (left) serves as tender for Rev. John G. Cole of Boyne City, a mason, who is building a natural stone fireplace in Weathervane Lodge. Rev. Cole is of the Nazarene church at Boyne City. "I preach on Sundays and lay blocks the rest of the week," he said.