A Canberra hotel where secret messages from Sir Winston Churchill were opened during World War II is now home to a valuable sculpture of the former UK prime minister.
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Sir Winston's grandson Jeremy Soames, who heads the UK branch of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, presented the $100,000 work to West Block Hotel owners Geocon on Friday.
The trust has permanently loaned the bronze sculpture to Geocon, which will place it on public display in the $85 million luxury West Block Hotel when it opens in 2020.
Created by artist Ivor Roberts-Jones in 1976 as part of a limited series, it is a small scale model of a sculpture that stands prominently in London's Parliament Square.
Geocon managing director Nick Georgalis said the hotel was an appropriate place to recognise Sir Winston, given the building and a small bunker outside once housed the Australian prime minister's department of correspondence.
During World War II, Sir Winston and then-Australian leader John Curtin exchanged often tense messages, with young women like Nancy Ward operating the Typex machine.
"In this West Block building, communications were played out between the two prime ministers via 21-year-old women typing on cypher machines and receiving messages titled: 'Most Immediate, Most Secret, Churchill to Curtin, Himself Alone'," Mr Georgalis said.
"Those wonderful stories are part of the heritage of this place, and in our development of West Block, we are delighted to be preserving and celebrating both the physical form of the building and the history that surrounds it."
Mr Soames said he was in London's Parliament Square when the original statue of his grandfather was unveiled in 1973, and he believed West Block Hotel, with its appreciation for history, would be a fitting home for the smaller maquette.
"This sculpture, to me, captures the indomitable spirit of Sir Winston," Mr Soames said.
"He was one purely to get on with life, and face the challenges. I hope it will provide inspiration to many people as they walk into what will be a very exciting hotel."
West Block will be an $85 million luxury hotel operated by Geocon's Abode Group, and will contain about 150 rooms, a restaurant and an exclusive bar.
Abode Group general manager Rien Donkin said it was scheduled to open in 2020, joining the company's five existing properties in Canberra and Murrumbateman. Geocon is also developing hotels in Kingston, Braddon, Belconnen and Garema Place.
