A once-trailblazing Bermuda guesthouse will face the bulldozer this month after the Bermuda Hospitals Board determined that repairs were impossible.

In a statement, the BHB said that it would begin demolition work on Archlyn Villa on St John’s Road, Pembroke this month.

A spokeswoman said the decision was made after reviews of the building, which has been uninhabited since 2014.

Preston Swan, the BHB’s chief operating officer, said: “We fully appreciate the historic significance of Archlyn Villa and have taken advice on what should be preserved from the building.

“However, it is not possible to repair the current structure and leaving it is unsafe.

“We are mindful too of our area neighbours who are faced with a deteriorating building.”

Mr Swan said that the property is intended to be used for staff accommodations in the future, and the BHB would find a way to honour the legacy of the site.

He said: “We will ensure our commitment to commemorate this site as a place of historical significance, specifically as one of the first tourist accommodations available to Black visitors during segregation.

“We will give careful consideration on how we will honour its legacy.”

The property, originally called Virginia Manor, was built by John Gibson in 1826 and had several owners before Archibald and Lillian Minors bought and expanded it in 1953, adding a moongate and swimming pool.

The couple had previously operated a guesthouse in St George’s under the name Archlyn Villa and chose to use the same name for the Pembroke guesthouse.

Archlyn Villa accommodated Black tourists (and other groups, like Jews) during racial segregation in Bermuda and singers Gladys Knight and Patty LaBelle, poet Langston Hughes and most Black entertainers who performed at the Forty Thieves nightclub stayed there.

Mrs Minors and other Black guesthouse owners later established the Bermuda Resort Association.

The BHB purchased the building in 1990 and used it for staff accommodation up to 2014, by which time the hospitals board said extensive maintenance and repair works were required.

Linda Abend and Margie Lloyd, from the Bermuda National Trust, wrote in 2022 that the existing property “appears abandoned and uninhabitable”.

They added: “The roof has been damaged and the whole place has a look of seediness and deterioration — yes, it’s an old house and, yes, just like every other house in Bermuda, it requires maintenance.”