The Heritage NZ Category 1 main building at the Pen-y-bryn Lodge, on Towey St, is different from many historic buildings in the North Otago town.
It is largely made from a mix of native timber and English oak, rather than the district's more predominant Oamaru stone.
The main lodge at Pen-y-bryn Lodge dates back to 1889 when it was built as a private home for John Bulleid. Surprisingly, it was not the wooden main lodge that caught fire in 1925 but the annexe, an area used by servants in the original 19th-century home, made from the readily available whitestone of Oamaru.
It lay in ruins until the house was converted into a commercial property in the 1990s.
New Yorker James Glucksman, who has owned the boutique hotel with Dr James Boussy since 2010, said though the servant's annexe was historic, they chose to renovate and expand that part of the house, because it could be done within the same footprint and, because of the earlier fire and renovation, did not face the restrictions the main lodge did with its Heritage NZ classification.
The annexe renovation was completed this month. The three rooms in the annexe had been small, Mr Glucksman said.
''We were always self-conscious about that.''
The renovation was required because it was important that guests, 90% of whom were international visitors, could have rooms at Pen-y-bryn Lodge that were on a par with what was on offer at other luxury lodges.
Painted black lines on the Oamaru stone walls, dating from when the annexe's exterior was decorated after the fire in the Tudor-style to match the main building, were now on the interior of the expanded annexe.
Fire-damaged stones were reversed when the building was first converted.
Each of the new rooms had its own feel, bathrooms were modernised and space was maximised, but the black stripes on the Oamaru stone walls tied the rooms to the building's history.
The rooms received their first guests this month.
The expansion of the luxury lodge reflected the rate of growth in tourism in the Waitaki district's largest town.
The length of time people stayed had increased in recent years, Mr Glucksman said.
In his first year as owner of Pen-y-bryn Lodge, ''virtually nobody'' stayed longer than one night; guests at the lodge were simply overnighting, using Oamaru as a resting point between destinations. Last year some guests stayed four or six nights and many stayed two or three nights.
''Oamaru has raised its profile and so people are making a point of coming [here].''
The rooms in the main lodge are still $625 per night, but the three new rooms in the annexe fetch $750 a night.
