13 Dec 2017 John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Montreal hotel suite redesigned to celebrate iconic Bed-In for Peace By Kim Megson
The Montreal hotel suite where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their iconic Bed-In protest in May 1969 has been redesigned to celebrate 2017’s International Day of Peace Photo: Wiki Commons
The Montreal hotel suite where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their iconic Bed-In protest in May 1969 has been redesigned to celebrate 2017’s International Day of Peace.
The pair spent seven days of their honeymoon in the bed of Suite 1742 at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel in their unconventional push for peace. The bed was also the recording location for Lennon’s first solo single, ‘Give Peace a Chance’.
Design firm Sid Lee Architecture have now completed a year-long renovation of the hotel and its guest rooms, collaborating with local collective MASSIVart on the newly re-christened John Lennon and Yoko Ono Suite.
The architects have rearranged the furniture to recreate the layout organised by the couple, with the bed placed against the main window. Their famous handwritten ‘Hair Peace’ and ‘Bed Peace’ cutouts have also been reproduced and adorn the window.
But rather than recreate the hotel’s period décor, the design team has been inspired by the places Lennon and Ono lived and visited during their anti-war campaigns.
New design touches reference London, New York, Tokyo and New Delhi, while the lyrics to ‘Give Peace a Chance’ are inscribed repeatedly on the walls in the style of a war memorial.
The suite also includes an archival cabinet containing photos, videos and historical items, while MASSIVart have added artworks, interactive pieces and multimedia installations.
Visitors will be able to don virtual reality headsets placed on the nightstands on either side of the bed, allowing them “to sense the unique energy of the bed-in from the point of view of John or Yoko.”
At the same time, Montrealers have been invited by the arts and design teams to gather at the city’s Place Ville Marie Esplanade for the largest outdoor bed-in ever held in North America. An exhibition, called Posters for Peace, features art created in tribute to the original protest, with proceeds from the sale of reproductions going to Amnesty International.
The redevelopment of Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth was overseen by real estate firm Ivanhoé Cambridge, which commissioned Sid Lee Architecture to create new public spaces such as bars, bistros and a performance venue.
They have reconnected the hotel with the street, added new entrances, opened up the kitchen areas, enhanced vertical connections through new sculptural stairways and created new interior light sources.
“We designed the renewed hotel experience with a very holistic vision,” said studio senior partner Jean Pelland. “The hotel literally opens onto the city to welcome local people.
"More generally, it reasserts itself as an urban hub serving a local and international clientele. It’s a third space where people can go every day to do business, attend events or enjoy some downtime.”
