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“I restored an 1840s heritage building in Elora and turned it into a boutique hotel”

When Kat Florence found out that the historic cinema in her hometown was under threat from developers, she decided to act

By Kat Florence, as told to Caroline Aksich
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Kat Florence and Don Kogen, owners of Kat Florence Hotels in Elora
Kat Florence and her husband, Don Kogen Benya Hegenbarth

I’m the sixth generation of a blue-collar family from Wellington County. I was born in Fergus and raised on a farm in Belwood, and I spent my teen years in Elora, surrounded by open fields and with the breathtaking gorge as my backyard. Despite the idyllic setting, I didn’t fully appreciate my hometown when I was younger—I always had wanderlust.

At 19, I was accepted into a teacher’s college in Australia, so I packed my bags and moved to the other side of the world. After graduating, I landed a job at an international elementary school in Bangkok. The city is a hub for the jewellery industry, and I became interested in jewellery making. While continuing to teach full time, I did an apprenticeship with a Dutch jeweller who was known for his exquisite craftsmanship. I viewed gemstones as works of art, cutting each to its perfect shape even if it meant sacrificing weight—and, on paper, value—to create something exceptional. During that time, I met a Bangkok gem hunter named Don Kogen. What began as a professional collaboration turned into a friendship and, eventually, a romance. Related: “We bought a $1.4 million manor home in Welland and turned it into a bed and breakfast

After nine years of teaching, in 2012, I decided to pursue jewellery making full time. Two years later, I launched Kat Florence Jewels with a twenty-piece collection. I spent several years travelling the globe to promote the brand, which quickly took off. The combination of a distinctive style and Don’s rare gemstones—like a 1,000-carat tanzanite—set the pieces apart, and soon they were fetching hundreds of thousands of euros at prestigious auctions like Sotheby’s and Bonhams.

In 2018, Don and I got married, and I adopted his daughters from a previous marriage, Alexandria and Helena. Then, later that year, my brother tragically died in a car crash at 37. Losing him made me realize I wanted to be closer to my family and to the last place we’d been together. Although Don and I visited Elora as often as we could, we thought it would be good for the girls—then in grades five and seven—to experience life in Canada. So we decided to move to Toronto for a year.

At that point, moving to Elora didn’t seem like an option. I didn’t think my family would embrace small-town life after living in Bangkok, a city of roughly 11 million people. So, in May of 2019, we moved into a condo on King West. Apart from the lack of high-quality Southeast Asian food downtown, we loved living in Toronto and relished the chance to easily visit family in Elora. But, less than a year into our stay, the pandemic hit and transformed downtown into a surreal, desolate zombie-land. Simultaneously, Thailand closed its borders, preventing us from returning. Given all of the uncertainty, relocating to Elora suddenly looked like our best option.

Related: Inside Newmarket’s Postmark Hotel, a new boutique hotel in an old post office

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Buying a house in my hometown was never something I imagined doing. But, in June of 2020, we bought our first property there: an 1851 row house in the heart of Elora’s historic downtown. Just as we were preparing to move in, I learned that the 170-year-old limestone building housing the Gorge Cinema—Canada’s oldest continuously operating repertory theatre—was under threat from developers, who were planning to replace it with a Holiday Inn. When I was growing up, the cinema had been my window to the world, sparking my dreams of travel and adventure. The thought of losing such an iconic piece of Elora’s history was devastating. Without knowing exactly what my plan was, I decided to act.

The Gorge Cinema in Elora, Ontario
The Gorge Cinema, before the restoration

After months of negotiations, in March of 2021, Don and I purchased the building for $1.8 million. Originally built in 1848 as the Commercial Hotel, the building was divided into two distinct entities in the 1970s: one side housed the Gorge Cinema while the other sat empty and fell into disrepair, with shattered windows, crumbling stone and trees sprouting through the walls. Don and I envisioned restoring the structure and transforming it into a vibrant hub for cinema, guest suites, dining and the arts—a place that would reignite the community spirit of the town.

The old Commercial Hotel building in Elora
The old Commercial Hotel in Elora, built in 1848

But, first, we had to get past the city’s red tape. Fortunately, the interior of the cinema had been well maintained over the years, but getting heritage approvals for the rest of the work was a bureaucratic nightmare. Every change we proposed, like redesigning the staircase or reintroducing the long-lost balcony, felt like pulling teeth. The community’s connection to the site was both an obstacle and a blessing. While locals cherished it, their deep sense of ownership meant that any proposed change—even much-needed improvements—was met with skepticism. Headlines initially celebrated the “local girl” saving a landmark, but backlash soon followed, with accusations that Don and I were “buying up the town”—this despite half the building sitting vacant and the cinema nearing closure. It took time, but eventually, people began to see that I wasn’t trying to erase history but instead to preserve and celebrate it. I wanted to give something back to the town that had shaped me.

In April of 2022, we moved our family back to Thailand, and Don and I travelled back and forth every month to push the restoration forward—all while juggling the jewellery business. It was chaotic, but I knew that if I wanted to achieve my goals, I had to keep the machine moving. If I delayed a decision, a sign-off or an email, we risked the entire process grinding to a halt, causing major delays and extra costs. Finally, after two years of public meetings, zoning submissions and endless negotiations, we secured the permit to begin restoring the building in May of 2023.

The hotel under construction
Andrew Musselman

I hired local talent, including architecture firm Martin Simmons Sweers, interior designers 13 Design and Ben Stoneworks masonry. The stonework—the heart of the restoration—was our biggest expense. Ben Stoneworks sourced limestone from a nearby quarry and constructed a tent around the building to maintain a consistent temperature, which was essential for removing stucco and repointing. The process felt a lot like crafting a piece of fine jewellery: a one-of-a-kind building that deserved meticulous care.

A suite at Kat Florence Hotels in Elora, Ontario
Jacklyn Barber

While the majority of the restoration focused on returning the building to its original condition, we also enhanced the interiors. Instead of following the historic floor plates, we created four spacious suites—the largest being 850 square feet—and gave each its own design. They all have unconventional layouts, so we brought in local woodworkers Chervin and Homestead to craft custom white-oak furniture, cabinetry, doors and shelving.

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A suite at Kat Florence Hotels in Elora
Jacklyn Barber

We aimed for a rustic-meets-modern look by combining raw materials like stone, wood, metal, linen and velvet with pieces sourced from around the world. The clay bathroom tiles are handmade in Morocco, the light fixtures came from Italy and Vancouver, the linens are from Quebec, and the custom carpets from Rug and Weave are hand-sewn by Indian artisans. We also decorated the suites with vintage hand-sketched drawings from Paris. The goal was for each suite to feel like a home away from home, with high-end Gaggenau ovens and Miele washing machines.

The sitting area in a suite at Kat Florence Hotels in Elora, Ontario
Jacklyn Barber

A few months before we were ready to open, Don became captivated by another historic building: a 19th-century flatiron that was once the Dalby Hotel. We acquired the property for $4.1 million in September of 2023 and are currently in the process of securing permits for its eventual restoration. While the four suites in the old Commercial Hotel building are designed for luxurious longer stays, the Dalby’s nine rooms will be geared toward weekend getaways.

By early 2024, with the restoration of the Commercial Hotel building well underway and our daughters back at school in Bangkok, we decided to test our hospitality skills by turning our former family home into a suite. The Diamond Cottage, as we named it, has three bedrooms and an oasis-like backyard. Many of our first guests were my jewellery clients. They flew in from all over the world, which was both lovely and unexpected. It was funny and surreal to see them experience this little slice of my life outside of the jewellery world.

Kat Florence Hotels suite in Elora, Ontario
Jacklyn Barber

This past December, we officially launched Kat Florence Hotels, which includes the Diamond Cottage and the four suites in the old Commercial Hotel building, all named after gems: Paraiba, Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby. We’re hoping to have the Dalby open and ready to welcome guests by June.

Although we only officially launched just over a month ago, it’s all going wonderfully. Right away, we were booked solid until the New Year—which is a feat in Elora, where there’s usually zero tourism in the winter. This journey has never just been about restoring buildings—it’s a love letter to the town that shaped me, and I’m proud to offer a piece of its history for others to enjoy.

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