Craning for a view is charm of this Dutch hotel
Posted: Mon 4th May 2009 05:47 am
Craning for a view is charm of this Dutch hotel
May 3, 2009
By Brigid Grauman
A huge, out-of-use industrial crane in a Netherlands harbor is now a one-room luxury hotel 55 feet in the air with a 71-ton cabin that turns every direction by use of a joystick.
The room with a view at the Harbour Crane.
The Harbour Crane can lay claim to being one of the world's most unusual hotels.
It stands in the seaport of Harlingen in the Netherlands and until 12 years ago was a shipping crane used to unload timber from Russia and Scandinavia. The crane went out of use when a larger industrial harbor was built nearby, and now its machine room has been converted into a bedroom for two that hangs more than 55 feet in the air, among a sky full of seagulls and the roar of the Wadden Sea.
Among many pleasures, the room's occupants can step up to the control room and swing the 70-ton cabin around in a 360-degree circle.
"It made me realize how much big boys love their toys," said Dutch visitor Gerty Christoffels, who booked the room as a birthday present for her boyfriend, Graham. "Graham was like a kid in a fairground, sitting up in the cabin with his joystick turning the crane around to face the sea or the center of town, to face the sun or turn his back to it."
The hotel's charm, Christoffels says, is that you're completely on your own and that it's an amusing combination of hi-tech and industrial architecture. The crane was Dutch businessman Gosse Beerda's third acquisition after Harlingen's lighthouse, which he converted into a one-room hotel with a top-floor view post, and an old English lifeboat that now offers single or double occupancy. These aren't places that you can reserve on impulse: The lighthouse is booked a year in advance, and the crane eight months, although it's available all year around. (The lifeboat isn't as popular.)
"Bad weather is not a problem," says manager Willem Koornstra. "We've had people stay during gale warnings, and with force-11 winds, and they enjoyed themselves. The cabin doesn't swing, but it does move about."
Guests reach the cabin via two elevators, the first stopping at a platform between the crane's legs and the second shooting them up to what was once the machine room and is now a luxuriously furnished bedroom with lots of windows. There is a huge double bed, two Charles Eames chairs, a table and a shower that has colored lights you can adapt to your mood. A small staircase leads up to the steering cabin, and there's also an outdoor platform with benches where you can sit and admire the harbor and the Wadden Sea Islands.
Harbour Crane: The hotel is 319 euros a night (about $421) and The Lighthouse is the same price. Both must be booked many months in advance. A lifeboat stay is 229 euros ($301) a night. More information:
www.vuurtoren-harlingen.nl.
Source
May 3, 2009
By Brigid Grauman
A huge, out-of-use industrial crane in a Netherlands harbor is now a one-room luxury hotel 55 feet in the air with a 71-ton cabin that turns every direction by use of a joystick.
The room with a view at the Harbour Crane.
The Harbour Crane can lay claim to being one of the world's most unusual hotels.
It stands in the seaport of Harlingen in the Netherlands and until 12 years ago was a shipping crane used to unload timber from Russia and Scandinavia. The crane went out of use when a larger industrial harbor was built nearby, and now its machine room has been converted into a bedroom for two that hangs more than 55 feet in the air, among a sky full of seagulls and the roar of the Wadden Sea.
Among many pleasures, the room's occupants can step up to the control room and swing the 70-ton cabin around in a 360-degree circle.
"It made me realize how much big boys love their toys," said Dutch visitor Gerty Christoffels, who booked the room as a birthday present for her boyfriend, Graham. "Graham was like a kid in a fairground, sitting up in the cabin with his joystick turning the crane around to face the sea or the center of town, to face the sun or turn his back to it."
The hotel's charm, Christoffels says, is that you're completely on your own and that it's an amusing combination of hi-tech and industrial architecture. The crane was Dutch businessman Gosse Beerda's third acquisition after Harlingen's lighthouse, which he converted into a one-room hotel with a top-floor view post, and an old English lifeboat that now offers single or double occupancy. These aren't places that you can reserve on impulse: The lighthouse is booked a year in advance, and the crane eight months, although it's available all year around. (The lifeboat isn't as popular.)
"Bad weather is not a problem," says manager Willem Koornstra. "We've had people stay during gale warnings, and with force-11 winds, and they enjoyed themselves. The cabin doesn't swing, but it does move about."
Guests reach the cabin via two elevators, the first stopping at a platform between the crane's legs and the second shooting them up to what was once the machine room and is now a luxuriously furnished bedroom with lots of windows. There is a huge double bed, two Charles Eames chairs, a table and a shower that has colored lights you can adapt to your mood. A small staircase leads up to the steering cabin, and there's also an outdoor platform with benches where you can sit and admire the harbor and the Wadden Sea Islands.
Harbour Crane: The hotel is 319 euros a night (about $421) and The Lighthouse is the same price. Both must be booked many months in advance. A lifeboat stay is 229 euros ($301) a night. More information:
www.vuurtoren-harlingen.nl.
Source