Page 203 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13 Fig. 14

The hotel was so successful that three years after it opened moveable glass panes. The following year the board informed its them in an annexe. Moreover, we are frequently being asked for rooms entire hotel complex was renovated from top to bottom between
the same architects designed and built an annexe in the grounds. shareholders that: ‘Electric lighting must be installed at the Beau-Rivage with one bed, which we currently lack, and this is causing us to lose many 1997 and 2000, and the porch reinstated in its original form as a
Known as ‘Le Chalet’, it was able to accommodate 45 more guests as soon as possible or it will lose its first-class ranking.’ As more and clients, particularly the French. These single-bed rooms must also have a covered terrace.
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(fig. 15). The highly decorative architecture featuring coloured more luxury hotels were installing the modern new lighting, its bathroom: yet another modern requirement!’ The architects Eugène
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brickwork and gables was in direct contrast with the austerity of absence at the Beau-Rivage was met with astonishment by clients. Jost and Louis Bezencenet developed the extension project and
the main building, and called to mind an image of the Alps which Since they doubted the Lausanne electricity company’s ability to work began in October 1905. The new building, named the
increasingly appealed to foreign tourists. power the hotel’s huge number of lamps, the board had its own ‘Palace’, opened on 19 June 1908. It could accommodate 145
generator built in the north of the hotel grounds in 1895. Two guests, but only six rooms had two beds.
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THE ALTERATIONS more bathrooms were also added that year. The two structures were connected by a corridor running
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The building has been altered numerous times over its In 1897, in answer to the fall in revenue – ascribed in part to from the west wing of the main building, whose ground-floor
150-year history, in response to modern technology and an ever- the decrease in winter guests – the board proposed either to install area, which previously contained the main dining room, was
more demanding clientele. Before 1874, two of the rooms in central heating or to close the Beau-Rivage in the winter and take completely transformed: a new restaurant was created, together
the east wing were converted into a billiards room and smoking on an establishment in Cannes. The first proposal was adopted. The with a corridor lavishly decorated with woodwork by the Albert
room, while the original smoking room was replaced by a reading financial figures for 1899 show how the business benefited from Held workshop in Montreux, fusing neo-Baroque and Art
room. This modification reflects the growing trend to increase the new central heating system: for the first time in 38 years, takings Nouveau elements to echo the style of the new building. Two
and vary the communal areas. By the end of the 1880s, the hotel’s exceeded 600,000 fr., yielding a 40 per cent profit. 47 date plaques were put up at each end of the corridor to celebrate
reputation had gone into sharp decline. The new general manager, the two phases of construction of the hotel complex: 1908 (at the
appointed in 1889, arrived to find the building in a pitiful state. ENDNOTES west end) and 1861 (at the east) (fig. 18).
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The roof was leaking, the furniture was tired and the curtains torn; From 1901, plans were enacted to increase the hotel’s From then on, the 1861 building would continue to undergo
the rooms were too big and meagrely furnished, making them capacity. The architects Théophile Van Muyden and Eugène Jost regular renovation work in a constant effort to give its guests
look ‘empty and sparse’. The general manager proposed that the put forward a project to add an extra floor to the building which a more comfortable experience. By 1962, all of the rooms had
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grand salon on the ground floor be completely renovated: ‘Nothing was to involve the complete reconstruction of the fourth floor private bathrooms. In 1930, the ground floor of the main building
here meets the standards of a first-class hotel and this room needs to be (figs. 16 and 17). As well as creating a hundred more beds, the was completely refurbished. The grand salon and reading room
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totally refurbished. The ceiling must be repainted, the gilding reapplied, operation would have allowed the board of directors to build a were joined together and the two original fireplaces removed to
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the wallpaper changed and the woodwork varnished in a darker colour.’ new roof that was ‘more aesthetically pleasing’. When compared create a double door in the side partition walls. The colonnaded
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He also wanted to improve the lighting in the entrance hall: ‘The with newer hotels built at the turn of the century (such as the porch, which had earlier been turned into a conservatory, was
lighting in the lobby is dismal. It is the Beau-Rivage’s main public room nearby Hôtel du Château d’Ouchy or a number of other luxury incorporated into the new room, and its original facade
where everyone gathers after dinner, yet at the moment it is impossible to hotels on the Lake Geneva Riviera) the Beau-Rivage appeared replaced by four pillars. The end of the 1930s saw another major
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read a newspaper or letter there.’ In addition, he believed that the outdated with its simple facades and plain roofing. However, the refurbishment of the public rooms, notably the restaurant and bar.
fourth floor was in need of an extensive makeover: ‘Now that the idea of raising the existing building was put aside in favour of In 1954, the first alteration work was done to the exterior of the
lift has been installed, [this floor] is important to us, and once it has been constructing a new annexe, which the general manager argued building, which up until that point had been largely untouched.
redecorated to the same standards as the other floors it will be very easy was the only way of meeting the new demands being made by The receding sections were raised on the side of the lake, creating
to sell the rooms, particularly because there are rooms with just one bed the clientele: ‘The Americans introduced the concept of hotel rooms with eight extra rooms. The work was repeated on the north side of the
which the other floors lack.’ The renovation work was duly begun, en-suite bathrooms. Many hotels in Switzerland have followed suit, in building in 1968, so that both of the receding sections now have
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starting with the public areas. In 1893 the verandas were extended Geneva, Zurich, Caux, etc. We could only have made these additions to an attic storey. The indoor pool below was built in 1978; it was
and the colonnaded porch converted into a conservatory with the present building by using up a great deal of space. It is better to put converted into a spa complete with an outdoor pool in 2005. The

L’Hôtel Beau-Rivage and the Chalet under construction. Foyer of the Beau-Rivage. Photograph, c.1920. Hôtel Beau-Rivage at Ouchy. Ground plan. Hôtel Beau-Rivage at Ouchy. First-floor plan.
Anonymous photograph, 1864.

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