Hotel Stry

Nominated for the Paul Oberman Award for Adaptive Reuse: Large-Scale/Team/Corporate

The newly opened Stry Hotel (pronounced “story”) occupies an Italianate style building which was constructed in 1879 as a commercial block on the corner of Murray and Ramsey Streets in Amherstburg. The original building featured three businesses – Johnston’s Bank, Samuel Lauler’s Hardware Store, and Rondot and Deneau General Store. In 2022, when owner Lauri Brouyette and her son, Kaiden, bought the building, her vision was to bring much needed hotel accommodations to the area while maintaining the feeling of stepping back in time that one experiences in the buildings on Murray Street. The building had long been the home of an automotive supply store but the layout of the façade with its slightly different construction for the bank (arched windows with galvanized caps) had remained the same over the years. Bencon General Contractors restored the look of the street view. Inside the building, much had to be removed due to the ravages of time and lack of care, but Bencon was able to preserve the hand laid brick and stone foundation, fireplaces, and maple flooring. The ceilings in the six rooms are 11 feet high and the walls are exposed brick to maintain both a loft feel and an old-world industrial charm. Brouyette’s vision and determination to stave off the naysayers brought the preservation of a 144-year-old building.

.

.

.