The property that was once named by Travel and Leisure Magazine as the "most sophisticated jewel of a small hotel in Bermuda" will be emptied of its contents next week as the Waterloo House prepares to close its doors for good.

The manor house that dates back to 1815 will transfer most of the furniture to its former sister property Coral Beach with the remainder donated to a select number of charitable organisations.

According to David Woodhead, general manager of Waterloo House, the restaurant has stopped serving lunch, but it is still serving breakfast and the "last supper" will be served next Wednesday evening.

"We won't be having a big fond farewell," said Mr. Woodhead. "It's too emotional to do that sort of thing. It's an end of an era. We are going to let the old girl fade away and die gracefully."

All the staff have been offered positions at the Coral Beach property if their role is transferable, but Mr. Woodhead said people in the positions that were not transferable had found other positions elsewhere.

"It's a really hard thing to do. However, we are not going to leave anyone out of a job," he said. "We still have a lot of work to be done, it's not like packing up a one-bedroom apartment."

According to the development application submitted by Benevides & Associates Architects, the Waterloo property is to be demolished and rebuilt into a three-storey office block that will house 120,000 square feet of office space and lower-level parking.

For now, the doors of Waterloo House will be closing but perhaps the "old girl" will survive as there have been six formal objections to the application submitted to the Department of Planning, including one objection from an overseas visitor and another from a civil engineer and surveyor who lives on Pitts Bay Road less than 200 feet from the proposed demolition site.

The architectural and design firm Conyers & Associates Ltd., on behalf of several of its clients located in the building to the west of Waterloo House, pointed out that "the proposed development site is zoned as 'Tourism' in both the 1992 and 2008 Bermuda Planning Statements".

According to public documents at the Department of Planning, Benevides & Associates has been notified of the objections and has until August 8 to respond.