Olde Glencove Hotel welcomes new season

Colleen Slater, KP News

Olde Glencove Hotel owner Luciann Nadeau gets a helping hand from Chuck West, of Chuck West Construction, during the recent reconstruction. Photo by Scott Turner, KP News

A devastating fire didn’t dampen Luciann Nadeau’s enthusiasm to hold onto her dream home. Amid some disappointments and challenges, she bit the bullet and moved ahead, making some changes and improvements to her landmark Olde Glencove Hotel as she progressed.

She’s back home and still unpacking, but already hosted a small wedding in the refurbished dining room in January.

Last April, fire, caused by a defective splice in the electrical wires in the ceiling of the adjoining guest house moved into the main hotel building. Luckily, a guest in the smaller building woke to the odor of smoke and broke into the hotel to alert Nadeau.

Nadeau praises the Key Peninsula Fire Department for a quick response and for dousing the fire. She said water caused more damage than the fire itself, but she was grateful to be alive and to have her beautiful home saved.

Chuck West Construction, LLC has handled the repair and renovation, staying as close to the original construction as possible. In many areas, blue plasterboard was attached to lath and then plastered to recreate the historical texture of the walls..

The biggest challenge? “Nothing is standard for new construction and each room is different,” said West. His company had to be creative and revise what was fixable.

“We don’t use a carpenter’s level here,” he said. “Everything was eyeballed to get things to look right.”

West said an important part of this job was the great relationship his crew established with Nadeau and the house.

The hotel is a historical treasure chest, filled with items Nadeau proudly shows off.

“I put up this (bedroom) wallpaper when my 16-year-old daughter was on a trip to Disneyland in 1952,” she said on a recent tour.

“The safe was used on the Messenger,” Capt. Henry Winchester’s boat that plied Puget Sound waters, she added, while pointing out her oak bannister, built in the late 1890s.

Antiques and reproductions are found throughout the building.

A plain-grained walnut bed and dresser grace one room. She said her husband told her to be sure she wanted them in that room because he wasn’t going to move them again.

A stained glass window from a Port Townsend cathedral decorates a small room. Unique beaded redwood door frames intrigue Nadeau. She’s not sure if the result was intended or if it was a mistake repeated to make them all the same.

She didn’t intend to remodel, but because of water damage, had the opportunity to change some of the décor, including a striking hammered tin ceiling in the kitchen, she said.

Nadeau feels so much a part of the community. As people heard about the fire, she said many called to ask how they could help. Some, including former hotel guests, brought or sent antiques of their own to replace or add to Nadeau’s décor.

She continues to praise the quick response and the work of the KP fire department. “They saved 95 percent of what we had,” she said.

An old brass bell is polished up and hangs next to the kitchen door “just in case” of future emergencies.

Three weddings are scheduled for the summer and Nadeau looks forward to sharing her refurbished historic residence with newcomers and returnees.

For information, visit glencovehotel.com.