www.thebermudian.com WINTER 2016 | 31
In 1951 real-life
drama at the
Bermudiana Hotel
lead to reform
WRITTEN BY ELIZABETH JONES
alk through ;ueen Elizabeth Park (formerly Par-La-Ville Park) from
;ueen Street and you will ;nd a moon gate with vine-covered steep
steps leading down to Par-La-Ville Road. Across the road, the white Brian
M. O’Hara House building rises several storeys high. But if the moon gate
were to o;er time travel as well as good luck, then the road and steps would
not exist and neither would the Brian M. O’Hara House. Once, the moon gate led directly
into the beautiful grounds of the old Bermudiana Hotel, opened in 1924 thanks to the
shipping line Furness Withy, which saw the need for a luxury hotel on the island since
more and more guests were visiting from North America. In Bermuda Recollections, Ross
Manders recounted being hired as a straw boss to help build the hotel once construction
THE
BE;MUDIANA
THEATRE CLUB
The Bermudiana Hotel
in 1951
