The Potlatch Club, the first truly luxury boutique hotel on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas, has opened its doors after an extensive restoration.
Eleuthera is an island escape known for its wild, pristine beauty and 135 empty beaches. The secluded hideaway has only 11 keys in a former private home, popular with New York socialites in the 1960s and 70s. The property fell into disrepair in the 1980s and has now been lovingly restored under its original name, The Potlatch Club.
For years, the oceanfront retreat was a magnet for socialites as well as silver-screen legends, such as Greta Garbo, Richard Widmark, Raymond Burr, and Rita Gam, who were never charged for anything. And in 1969, Paul McCartney honeymooned at The Potlatch Club with his first wife, Linda, when he wrote several Beatles songs including ‘Bathroom Window’ on Potlatch Club notepaper.
In 2016, new owners Bruce Loshusan and Hans Febles stumbled across the dilapidated property. Now, after a seven-year renovation designed and landscaped by Hans Febles alongside Nassau-based interior designer Amanda Lindroth, the island’s mid-century icon has been restored to its former glory.
Fronting a seven-mile deserted stretch of pink-sand beach, The Potlatch Club is an oceanfront escape where breezy coastal elegance meets timeless Caribbean architecture at the reborn Potlatch Club. In all, four original buildings were saved and refurbished. The property’s original clubhouse retains historic details, such as checkered floors, which were crafted in Nassau in 1919, and classic whitewashed arches that hark to the property’s storied past, while striped awnings and pops of pastel add glamorous seaside flare. White walls, pink coral stone floors, coral stone finished bathrooms, designer furniture and original art complete the relaxed yet upscale beachy look.
Set in 12 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, the accommodations are a mix of historic and newly built whitewashed suites (3), garden cottages (3), ocean-facing cottages (3) plus one 1-bedroom and one 4-bedroom ocean-view villa, which includes butler service. Some feature private verandas and terraces and others shoreline pavilions or gardens scented with jasmine and frangipani.
The Fig Tree restaurant overlooks the pool and features retrospective pictures of the former resort. Sumptuous breakfasts with local fruit and fresh ingredients set the stage for seasonal farm-and-sea-to- table organic cuisine. Guests can opt for lunch at the beach where the Pavilion Bar is a laidback gathering spot.
General Manager Kezang Dorji, originally from Bhutan, brings a sense of serene Himalayan hospitality to Eleuthera although he has much experience in the Caribbean as he was part of the pre-opening team of Uma Resort by COMO, worked in several Como hotels including Parrot Cay and served as the Director of Food and Beverage at The Cove.
1960s History and Heritage
While on a golf trip to Eleuthera in 1958, New York socialite (not the actress) Elizabeth Taylor stumbled upon a private home set on 60 lush acres near Governor’s Harbour. She immediately let her friends know about the glamorous oceanfront estate, and before long, her fellow East Coast socialites, Diane Adams, Marie Driggs and Elizabeth Fitzgerald, arrived at the Bahamian island to convert the private residence into The Potlatch Club. They hired local contractors to expand the property’s original footprint, originally constructed in the 1930s, and commissioned Sri Lankan-born, London-trained architect Ray James Holman Nathaniels, credited with founding modernism in the Bahamas, to design a few of the resort homes and paint a floor-to-ceiling mural on one of the lovingly restored buildings.
