Hôtel Lutetia
| Hôtel Lutetia | |
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| File:Lutetia Hotel, July 4, 2007.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia
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| General information | |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Address | 45 Boulevard Raspail |
| Opening | December 1910 |
| Owner | Alrov Group |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Hôtel Lutetia, located at 45 Boulevard Raspail, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, is one of the best-known hotels on the Left Bank. It is noted for its architecture and its historical role during the German occupation of France in World War II.
Contents
History
The Lutetia was built in 1910 in the Art Nouveau style to designs by architects Louis-Charles Boileau and Henri Tauzin. The interiors are today decorated in the later Art Deco style. It was founded by the Bon Marché department store, which sits opposite it facing Square Boucicaut. The Lutetia is located at the intersection of Boulevard Raspail and rue de Sèvres, adjacent to the Sèvres-Babylone Métro station. The hotel is named for an early pre-Roman town that existed where Paris is now located.
Famous guests over the years have included Pablo Picasso, Charles de Gaulle, Marianne Oswald, André Gide, Peggy Guggenheim and Josephine Baker. James Joyce wrote part of Ulysses at the hotel.[1]
World War II
The war began in September 1939, and numerous refugees fled to Paris from conflict areas and places occupied by German forces. The Lutetia attempted to accommodate as many as possible. Because of its reputation, it was filled with a number of displaced artists and musicians. However, the French government evacuated Paris beginning June 14, 1940 and the Germans entered and occupied the city. A number of the Lutetia's residents escaped; others were captured by the Germans. The hotel itself was requisitioned by the Abwehr (counter-espionage), and used to house, feed, and entertain the officers in command of the occupation, such as Alfred Toepfer and the French collaborator Rudy de Mérode.
When Paris was liberated in August 1944, the hotel was abandoned by German troops, and taken over by French and American forces. From then until after the end of the war, it was used as a repatriation center for prisoners of war, displaced persons, and returnees from the German concentration camps.
Recent history
As Paris returned to normalcy, the Lutetia was restored to its previous state as a luxury hotel. It was acquired by the Taittinger family in 1955. In the late 1980s, designer Sonia Rykiel opened a boutique in the building, and supervised a major redesign intended to recreate the Art Deco style of earlier decades.
Taittinger's Groupe du Louvre controlled the hotel for many years as part of their Concorde Hotels & Resorts chain. Following Taittinger's sale to Starwood Capital in 2005, Starwood sold the Hôtel Lutetia to the Israeli Alrov group in 2010 for 150 Million Euros.[2] Alrov closed the hotel in April 2014 for a three-year, 100 million Euro renovation.[3] The building's contents were sold at auction in May 2014.[4]
Access
| Located near the Métro station: Sèvres - Babylone. |
Bibliography
- Pierre Assouline: Lutetia, Paris : Gallimard, 2005 (ISBN 2-07-077146-6)
Gallery
- Hôtel Lutetia
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Hôtel Lutetia
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 08.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia
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Hôtel Lutetia
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Hôtel Lutetia
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Le Lutetia.JPG
Hôtel Lutetia at night
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Hôtel Lutetia at night
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Hôtel Lutetia at night
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 09.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia lobby
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Hôtel Lutetia lounge
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Hôtel Lutetia lounge
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Hôtel Lutetia lounge
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 05.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia lounge
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Hôtel Lutetia interior
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 01.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia interior
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 02.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia interior
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Hôtel Lutetia interior
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 03.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia bar
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Hotel Lutetia Paris 12.jpg
Hôtel Lutetia hallway
References
- ↑ Paris Match, No 2905, 20–26 January 2005, p.22
- ↑ http://www.ejpress.org/article/45272
- ↑ http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2014/3/24/174550/841/hotels/Hotel_Lutetia_Is_Next_for_Closure_in_Paris_on_April_14
- ↑ http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/hotel-lutetia-in-paris-auctions-off-historic-items/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Hotel Lutetia (Hotel website)
- Auction Catalogs 05/19/2014: PART1 PART2 BISCH WINES
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