Brunton Boatyard Hotel

Abstract

George Brunton, a 19th century British shipbuilder, had a yard directly at the Fort Cochin harbour entrance in the old, historical part of the town, where the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who discovered the sea route to India, was once buried. This plot had been derelict for a long time and was then acquired by the owners of the experience Hotel cgh earth, so that they could build a new hotel in this part of the city, which is very attractive for tourists. The hotel was intended to provide a breathtaking view over this harbour entrance. The difficult part of the task was adding a new building to this characterful part of the old town that would do justice to the existing shore development ensemble, but still remain self-confident. Fort Cochin, with its few remaining fragments of a star-shaped bastion, is now a museum for centuries of European colonisation: first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and lastly the British fought each other for supremacy, leaving clear traces of the struggle. It is still possible to discern traces of Portuguese Baroque, mainly in the façades of the old churches, but some surviving private houses also show evidence of pointed-arched Gothic masonry combined with Dutch-Indian hipped roof structures.