Belvoir Springs in the News
Historic Gem Lights the Hillside Tri-City Voice December, 2006
Move toward Restoration Afoot, by Lisa Stone-Norman, reprint
Fremont - When Charlie Chaplin dined at the Hotel Belvoir, he sat in a formal dining room under 15-foot ceilings, while waiters served up famous chicken dinners from stained glass trays. Today antique panes remain, along with folding French doors and yards of rich, Douglas fir panelling. But the rest of the 110-year-old manse and its grounds have lost much of the country glamour it had when stars with Chaplin's Essanay Film Manufacturing Company were in residence.
Still, when Susie Richardson walked into the formerly posh hotel and stood before the massive, Victorian staircase, she says she knew she wanted to convert it into a bed-and-breakfast. So the Palo Altan and her two partners didn't hesitate in April, when they paid a fire-sale price for the property in a forclosure sale, although Richardson declined to name the exact price.
One of Fremont's primary historic resources, the 21-acre parcel includes five outbuildings and a private spring that produces 12 gallons of water a minute. "I could see the beams through the ceiling and I knew," said Richardson Thursday, as she opened door after door, leading from a dozen bedrooms, past a cadre of linen closets, under original skylights. "It's a grand old building."