Eden Rock, St Barths

Eden Rock, St Barths is a luxury resort in Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean, jutting out on a craggy quartzite bluff overlooking the Baie de Saint Jean on the central north coast. The resort is very popular with the rich and famous. U.S. News Travel ranks it as the best hotel on the island, and was included in Travel and Leisure's 500 World's Best Hotels for 2015.[1]

Artist-in-residence

The resort is one of the few in the world to have an artist-in-residence. The resort's owner is also its artist-in-residence: Jane Spencer Matthews, who studied art in both South Africa and at London University's Slade School of Art. Jane established The Eden Rock Gallery in the 1990s. Following their purchase of the resort, Jane and her husband, co-owner David Matthews, extended the complex extensively, and also renovated the hotel's original 1950s décor.[2]

History

The resort was established in the 1950s by St Barth's politician Rémy de Haenen (d.2008) who sold it to the Matthews family in 1995.[3] It was reportedly frequented by Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes; Garbo once checked in for three days under the alias of Suzy Schmidt, but loved it so much that she stayed for three weeks.[4][5]

The hotel was seriously damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017.[6]

Facilities

Eden Rock contains 32 rooms and suites and 2 villas. The original rooms are described as being "stuffed with antiques, family heirlooms, silver fixtures, steamer trunks, four-poster beds and watercolours of local scenes".[4] The beach houses contain one to three bedrooms. The Howard Hughes Suite is above the main building on the rock, and features hardwood floors, three verandahs offering 360-degree panoramas, and two bathrooms uniquely clad in wielded copper. The Rockstar Suite opened in 2010, described as being a "1,486 square metres (16,000 sq ft) stunner with four master suites, a screening room, a fully-equipped recording studio, a pool table, a private pool, and a dedicated butler," costing $130,000 for a week's stay. The Villa Nina features two bedrooms, and its own pool and art gallery.[4]

The resort is served by two restaurants, "The On The Rocks" and "The Sand Bar", headed by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.[7]

References
  1. "Eden Rock, St Barths". U.S. News & World Report Travel. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. Grainger, Lisa (2 April 2013). "Luxury Hotels with Artists in Residence, Eden Rock, St Barths, St Barths". Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 13 January 2016. ...Jane Spencer Matthews studied fine art in Africa and at the Slade School of Art ( London University)....she set up The Eden Rock Gallery at...
  3. "St Barths Online". St Barths Online. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  4. Porter, Darwin; Prince, Danforth; Flipin, Alexis Lipsitz; Christina Paulette Colón; John Marino (30 July 2010). Frommer's Caribbean 2011. John Wiley & Sons. p. 509. ISBN 978-0-470-64017-3.
  5. "Eden Rock: the glam St Barts' resort where the Middletons holidayed". Hello Magazine. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  6. Stephanie Rosenbloom, After Maria and Irma: Caribbean Tourism, Island by Island, New York Times (Sept. 22, 2017).
  7. Fodor's In Focus St. Maarten/St. Martin, St. Barth & Anguilla. Fodor's Travel Publications. 23 December 2014. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-8041-4356-1.

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