Historic Ocean House hotel to reopen

WESTERLY, R.I. (FOX Providence) - Grand openings have never looked so grand. After years of rebuilds and renovations, the community and staff officially welcome the new Ocean House in Watch Hill Thursday.

The Ocean House is the last of the seven grand Victorian hotels in the area. It opened in 1868 and hosted countless vacationers for over a century. The doors closed in 2000, a few years later, the original structure was demolished.

But that's not the end of its story.

"When Mr. Royce purchased the Ocean House he wanted to do a renovation of the property, but being 138 years old that was not possible. He decided if it could not be renovated or restored he wanted to create a faithful reproduction of it," said Daniel Hostettler, President & Managing Director of Ocean House.

Now, the Ocean House is once again welcoming guests.

Inside the building, it's not all new. Charming features such as the front desk and fireplace were carefully removed from the original Ocean House, to integrate the historic past into the new structure. Other aspects that were not salvageable were remade as carbon copies of the originals.

"The exterior of the building is a complete duplicate of the original so down to the coloring of the building and every window being in the exact place that they were in before so it is very Victorian in style because that is when it was built."

In addition to 49 guest rooms and 23 private residences, the 140 million dollar restoration added some new features. Including a spacious, full service spa that specializes in both solo relaxation and couples treatments.

The " OH!" Spa also includes a fitness center, pool and hair salon.

"Our goal from the ownership and management team is that we become the first five-star, five-diamond property on the eastern seaboard", Eric Haugen, Chief De Cuisine of Seasons Restaurant at Ocean House.

The Ocean House employs a 200 person staff who join together to bring the essence of the old Ocean House back to life.

"My focus mostly is on the fine dining restaurant. It is a 'farm to table' cuisine, meaning that we source as many ingredients that we can from a 150 miles of where we are sitting," said Haugen.

Guests can choose from five different restaurants, and a variety of options. Dine inside or outside in the beachy breezes. There's fine dining, pool side fare and veranda eatery.

"We want to support the community, we want to be attractive to the locals and to the guests that are coming from New York or Boston or where ever."

The historic Ocean House will celebrate its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony beginning Thursday, May 20 at 6 p.m.

On the net:

www.oceanhouseri.com/