Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Hótel Borgarnes (the old timber hotel) (1905–1953) – Lost Tables
Two blacksmiths began building a two-storey timber guesthouse with a large dining room in Borgarnes in 1905, and an extension in 1908 let it sleep about 30 guests. Vigfús Guðmundsson bought it in 1920 and ran it as Hótel Borgarnes with his wife and brother, and from 1929 the Dane Hans Grönfeldt mark
Two blacksmiths began building a two-storey timber guesthouse with a large dining room in Borgarnes in 1905, and an extension in 1908 let it sleep about 30 guests. Vigfús Guðmundsson bought it in 1920 and ran it as Hótel Borgarnes with his wife and brother, and from 1929 the Dane Hans Grönfeldt marketed it to Reykjavík people for day trips. For decades, packed dances were held every Saturday night when the ferry Suðurlandið sailed in from Reykjavík, and business boomed with soldiers during the war. On 23 September 1953 a fire broke out in the attic and the hotel burned within an hour, leaving only the chimney; everyone got out safely.
A new concrete Hótel Borgarnes was completed in 1955 and still operates
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