Historia Puerto BoriesBy Bill Taunton, FCSI

Pioneers from Europe arrived in Patagonia around 1890. In Puerto

Natales, in the province of Ultima Esperanza, Chile, they gave birth

to a flourishing sheep industry which spread to both Chilean and

Argentinian Patagonia.

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A German citizen, Rodolfo Stuben-rauch, represented the interests of both Britain and Germany in this region. He was a visionary entre-

preneur who began construction in this area, building a fat-rendering establish-ment in 1905. In 1893, the Sociedad Ex-plotadora de Tierra del Fuego was founded and became the largest food and cattle production company in Patagonia. They built a large factory that included a slaugh-ter house and refrigeration in Puerto Bo-ries, a few miles outside Puerto Natales, and start slaughtering and processing thousands of sheep. The industry contin-ued for nearly seven decades.

Today, many of these buildings have

been refurbished and turned into a modern hotel-museum – The Singular Patagonia Hotel, Puerto Bories, located at the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park. The original buildings were constructed in the English style, and in 1999, this post-Victorian in-dustrial architecture was declared a Na-tional Historical Monument of Chile.

Thanks to the interest of a local entre-preneur, John MacLean, the area has found a new lease of life. Its many attractions are being promoted and 12 years ago, he began planning a hotel in the old refrigeration plant in Puerto Bories. With the help of architect, Pedro Kovacic, MacLean was able

The inset is a snapshot of the past. But today, the mountain backdrop makes for a breathtaking setting for a hotel celebrating that past and the pioneers who first created an industry in this area.

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to recover and repair important parts of the building.

About three years ago, this project fi-nally took shape with the inclusion of a new partner, the hotelier Felipe Sahli, and finally ended construction in November 2011 when it opened to the public for the start of the 2011/2012 summer season.

Indeed, restored and resurrected by fourth generation family members of the original pioneers who settled the area and built the sheep farming industry more than 100 years ago, The Singular pays homage

to the building’s rich historical importance in the development of the local culture, economy and heritage. Inside the building, the electric power plant, the driving force of the original industrial establishment, can still be seen today. The whole refrig-eration cooling system, dating back to 1914, is fully visible and may eventually be operational. It is a magnificent example of industrial machinery of the period, and can be admired in all its detail. In addition, the hotel’s restored wooden dock hovers over the Fjord of Ultima Esperanza leading

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Historia Puerto Bories

out to the Pacific; from here, ships took wool, meat, leather and grease to markets all over the world.

In 2004, during a trip through the area, I was lucky enough to visit the facilities of this amazing building, then a local history museum. Upon entering, my first thought was how to transform this incredible build-ing into a hotel museum. Who might have imagined that six years after my visit, our company would be retained by the owners to develop, in the same place, the incredible kitchen and dining facilities of this hotel?

The Singular Patagonia hotel has 57 luxu-rious rooms, a spa, a large bar, a breakfast room, a dining room for lunch and dinner and another for the personnel. All these are interspersed within the original building.

The hotel’s facilities are divided into several areas and enclosures, taking advan-tage of existing spaces. All are linked by corridors and service tunnels under the original building, because, as a historic monument, the original architectural in-stallations could not be altered in any way. This meant a great challenge for our office, and we had to unify all areas torn apart not to affect the food facilities operation.

The food facilities were separated into

storage areas, pre-processing, washing, production and service in different prem-ises, buildings and levels of the original building. The challenge was to link these areas with the kitchen and dining rooms without too many complications.

The hotel kitchen is open and visible to the public and is located in the main dining room. It has an industrial-type design, although it incorporates all the advances of modern culinary technology. More importantly, it is a LEED certified project which aims to be the best hotel

The rustic dining room still has the original beams. And chef Laurent Pasqualetto is determined to ensure that the menu also has its roots in the area.

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alternative in Patagonia with an un-matched gastronomic menu.

The challenge of doing a new installation in an historic building is that you cannot modify the structure or perforate walls, windows or passages; everything has to be done thru the openings that existed when the building was declared a national monu-ment. The engineering projects were diffi-cult since all the plumbing (gas, water or sewage), electric installations and venting were done thru false walls and underneath the floors. The only exceptions were those areas where new construction took place.

But the biggest challenge was the amount of time we found we had to dedi-cate to the project modifications, due to the building constraints. Due to these re-strictions, we made many proposals that proved impossible to accomplish, so during the project development, we had 11 major modifications to the layout (passages, flow problems, inability to install certain fin-ishes or equipment, etc.). Once we finished the project, it only took us one food inspec-tor’s visit to get the approval to operate without any modifications.

Most of the elements used in the kitch-en are natural, including the strict use of only non-caged/bred animals. The French

chef, Laurent Pasqualetto, has re-imagined traditional, local recipes, fully respecting the region’s cultural heritage and the rich variety of ingredients to be accessed lo-cally. Thus, the menu focuses on local products, both grown in the hotel’s garden and sourced locally, including tooth fish, golden eel, Patagonian hare, lamb, white strawberries, rhubarb, algae, seaweed and Patagonian honey. Accompanying the de-lectable dishes coming out of the kitchen is a wine list based on the local terroir, presenting the best selections (roughly 16) from each grape-growing valley of Chile.

Technical inspections were pretty hard due to the difficulty of getting to the site. There was a great deal of time expended on travelling. To get to Puerto Natales dur-ing spring and summer is easy – a 3.5-hour flight and then 2.5–3-hour drive. In winter and autumn, things were a bit different. The flight from Santiago was the same but it could take as much as six hours on snowy and icy roads with freezing temperatures and high winds day and night.

After three months in business, the hotel has been a great surprise for everybody, clients and owners. It has already had a 90% average occupancy since the opening.

The bar area is a tasteful blend of history and modern appointments to create a comfortable lounging area.

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