Former All Blacks Hotel Headquarters, Grand Tearoom, Converts To $ 6 Million Rooftop Apartment

If you’re a particularly picky All Blacks fan, you might recognize the ornate art-deco walls of this Auckland City rooftop apartment, which cost over $ 6 million to purchase and renovate.

The 539 square meter space above the Heritage Hotel on Hobson St has been home to the media and the backdrop for countless photos of the national rugby union team over the past decade.

But after being bought by Steve and Bridget Varney in 2017 for $ 2.5 million, the Auckland couple just finished an ambitious New York-style loft renovation.

The process saw 18 tonnes of steel cranes through a seven-story window due to heritage category B restrictions on the Grand Tearoom wing, built over the old Farmers department store in the 1930s.

Steve Varney said there was a resource consent to convert the space into four apartments when he and Bridget bought it.

“People my age, we all grew up knowing that room, and for someone to go and put four apartments in there seemed like a waste. So we loved the project,” Varney said.

“Bridget designed it, but she wanted it to feel like a New York loft and I think she’s done it quite well.”

But the couple faced a series of restrictions to alter any aspect of the space due to the heritage listing.

“The first was that you are not allowed to fix anything on the ceiling or the wall,” Varney said.

“So you can imagine that in the design phase that creates some problems. From a seismic point of view, you can only put a little weight on the pillars below.

“The main lights had to be relocated. In fact, we were not allowed to remove them from the site. That is how strict the advice was. They are practically a work of art in themselves.”

To accommodate restrictions on altering the structure, Varney said they divided the space by installing two steel storage rooms “for lack of a better word.”

The architect of the renovation was Slavash Momeny of Gaze Commercial.

“It’s just big buddy, damn big. But it’s no different from living in any other apartment,” Varney said.

“I mean that the hotel facilities are really good. Also swimming pools, two gyms, a tennis court, sauna.”

The entire $ 3.6 million renovation will be documented in Grand Designs’ 2020 season premiere, on Three, this Monday at 7:30 p.m.

“It is not something that she [Bridget] normally I would, but felt that people should know what happened to the room because everyone knows, “Varney said.

The Heritage Hotel was first built in 1914 as a warehouse before being remodeled to become the largest department store in the country in 1920.

In the 1930s, the silver-duty 300-seat Grand Tearoom was added.

Extensive floor-to-ceiling glazing afforded panoramic views of Waitematā Harbor and it became one of Auckland’s trendiest restaurants and hosted many civic functions.

The Grand Tearoom had functioned as a function center since the historic store’s conversion into an apartment hotel in the late 1990s.

In October 2018, the 20-year Grand Tearoom lease for the Heritage Hotel expired and it was purchased by the Varneys, who own and run the Simply Leasing office equipment leasing company.

High-profile sports teams such as the Italian America’s Cup Yacht Syndicate Luna Rossa and the All Blacks have used the Grand Tearoom as their team headquarters and meeting place during their hotel stay.

In 1999, Bill Clinton, then President of the United States, introduced APEC members at the Grand Tearoom.

• The Varney property appears at Grand Designs on Three this Monday night at 7:30 pm