WATCH: Pair of downtown staples to get facelift

A pair of well-known downtown businesses are getting facelifts.

The Royal Anne Hotel and Pulp Fiction Coffee House are slated for façade improvements, according to documents submitted to city hall.

The Royal Anne is proposed to be painted white, as well as receive new rooftop signage, exterior lighting and a black metal standing seam feature around the entrance.

The hotel, original named The Palace Hotel, opened in August 1905 and was the only hotel in the city at the time. It was built with four feet of sawdust under it due to flooding from Okanagan Lake and had a bridge of sorts connecting the front entrance to Bernard Avenue. It had 35 rooms and only one bathroom on each of the three floors.

According to the hotel website, in 1929, a syndicate of local businesses purchased the hotel, moved part of the original building to the rear of the property and constructed a regal new building. The hotel was then renamed The Royal Anne Hotel after locally grown cherries.

The hotel burned to the ground the night of Dec. 13, 1971, and was rebuilt and reopened in November 1975.

Meantime, on the corner of Pandosy and Lawrence, a bit of history will be brought back.

When Silk FM occupied the building Pulp Fiction is now in, the outside was covered with panels and stuccoed. That is all going to be removed to reveal and restore the original red brick. The signs will also be upgraded, and the faded awnings will be replaced with a modern steel canopy.

Documents say the upgrades will bring “the building exterior to a perfect fit with the surrounding neighbourhood.”

Both projects still need to run through city staff and require a nod of approval from council before going ahead.