Many Glacier Hotel will see $13.56 million in work over next two years

The Many Glacier Hotel will be a busy place this summer — not just with tourists, but with hammers and saws and construction equipment. The Park Service announced that contractor Swank Enterprises has been awarded a $13.56 million two-year contract to complete work on the 101-year-old hotel’s south annex. Swank began work earlier this month. Work includes electrical, fire prevention, plumbing and other remodeling.

The project is the last portion of a multi-year effort to remodel, repair and stabilize the old hotel on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake and represents the final two phases of a seven-phase plan that has been implemented over the past 15 years, with significant components completed in 2005 and 2012.

The hotel saw more than $10 million in work on the north end of the structure in 2012. Part of the current reconstruction is to rebuild the double helix staircase that led to the hotel’s basement. 

The hotel underwent a reconstruction in the 1950s and the staircase, which featured a rock fountain in the center adorned with native plants and colored lights, was removed.

The Park Service’s Centennial Challenge program will provide $121,650 which was matched by the Laurence H. Dorcy estate to fully fund the $243,300 project to rebuild the staircase. The matching gift was bequeathed by Dorcy, an eccentric multi-millionaire from Hawaii and great-great grandson of James Jerome Hill, the founder of the Great Northern Railway, according to the Park Service.

Great Northern built the hotel in 1915, but the south annex was finished in 1917.

This summer, about half of the hotel’s rooms will be closed due to construction. The affected rooms are located above the lobby and within Annex II. Additionally, the lobby spaces, including the deck and lake level areas, will be under construction and inaccessible.

The main entrance to the hotel will be temporarily moved to the north end of the building.

Visitors can expect to hear some construction noise during the day as work progresses, but the dining room and other amenities, such as red bus tours and horseback rides will continue.

Swank will work until December 1 and then restart April 1 with a target completion of June 2, in time for the 100th anniversary of the south annex.

In addition to the Swank work, Xaneterra Parks and Resorts, the concessionaire that runs the hotel, will also be doing work on the structure.