Page 214 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 1
THE PALACE:
LUXURIOUS ARCHITECTURE,
CLEVERLY DESIGNED
Dave LÜTHI
OUCHY: A ‘FRENCH’ RESORT? competition grew fiercer around 1900: not only did the number
Around 1900 there was a boom in tourism in the Lake of hotels increase, but Ouchy found itself vying with the region’s
Geneva region, and several dozen hotels were built, enlarged or other fast-growing resorts, notably Montreux and Evian. Each of
converted in Lausanne at this time. The city-centre establishments these cities used a different marketing ploy to attract and retain loyal
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were geared primarily towards business clients, whereas those on clients: while Evian relied on the virtues of its waters, Montreux
the outskirts catered more to wealthy tourists who would move focused on the Alpine tourism sector by developing at altitude (in
from resort to resort according to the season. At the turn of the Les Avants and Caux). However, although the resorts competed
century the lower part of the city was invaded by the hotel industry, with each other for business, there was also a spirit of dialogue,
and a string of hotels was created along the double crescent emulation, and collaboration. Banker Marc Morel’s presence on
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formed by the lake shores on either side of the Château d’Ouchy Beau-Rivage’s board of trustees is indicative of the network
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(which had itself been converted into a hotel in 1893), with the linking the region’s different establishments. Since Ouchy was not
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Hôtel Beauregard near the Cèdres country estate (1909) and the regarded by experts as a health resort, it had to promote itself to a
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Carlton (1906) at the Croix d’Ouchy, the Royal Savoy (1909) and different clientele from that of the nearby resorts; nonetheless, even
the Meurice (1915) on the Avenue d’Ouchy, and the Hôtel du though the adverts made no special mention of the climate, a host
Parc in Ouchy (1906). If we add the numerous guesthouses and of ailing guests descended on the Beau-Rivage at the turn of the
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private clinics then thriving in the same part of the city, we have century to consult with Lausanne’s famous doctors and surgeons,
a picture of an entire area in the grip of a tourism explosion (in such as Marc Dufour, César Roux or, in particular, Louis Bourget
both the leisure and health sectors). Various facilities (shops and and Louis Verrey, whose own establishments were located close by.
restaurants; Anglican, Welsh and Catholic churches) enabled the Verrey’s clinic, Bois-Cerf, was run by French nuns, the Sœurs de
zone to be relatively independent, while remaining well connected la Trinité. At the same time, documents in the archives du Beau-
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to the main city and station via the Lausanne-Ouchy funicular. Rivage repeatedly express the desire to retain, if not increase, the
As a suburb of Lausanne, Ouchy was able to exploit its attractive French presence in the hotel. Was this pure coincidence, or part
location, scenery and climate to lure the public. Nevertheless, the of a business strategy to create a ‘French quarter’ in the south of the
The Beau-Rivage and Palace complex seen from above. The parade of shops
in front of the Palace and the public rooms linking the two buildings are clearly
visible. Postcard c.1950.
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city? As we shall see, the architecture of the Palace made direct have been very much in favour in the Vaud regional capital, so it is
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understandable that he should be considered for the Beau-Rivage
reference to the great French hotels. It is not surprising, then, that
when the new hotel opened in 1908 the majority of guests came project. While he would be supplanted in other fields by rising
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from France; however, the rise in ailing visitors to the hotel was young architects, he remained the long-standing expert in hotel
cause for concern, since the management did not wish to see their
architecture in Lausanne and elsewhere.
establishment transformed into a luxury sanatorium. The increase Jost was a pure product of the Paris École des Beaux-Arts
in clinics and rest homes during the same period undoubtedly and his contemporary style of architecture responded perfectly to
helped to absorb some of these undesirable guests. the needs of a cosmopolitan middle-class clientele who expected
to find a certain level of luxury wherever they travelled. The
THE BUILDING PROJECT AND PREPARATORY WORK Palace project evolved by taking into consideration the standards
When the idea of enlarging the hotel had been first proposed of comfort required by its guests. However, adapting the existing
in 1896, the board had initially wanted to raise the roof, an building to these new needs – bathrooms connected to the
extensive practice which, in this particular case, would have given apartments, rooms with one bed – would prove difficult.
the building a new outline to counter the aesthetic ‘assault’ of the The dining room would have to be extended ‘on the west
recently inaugurated Château d’Ouchy. Théophile van Muyden facade [by] a sort of rotunda’ of the type which was then being
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(1848-1917) produced a number of designs à la française featuring built for the restaurant at the Grand Hôtel des Avants. The facade
pavilion or mansard roofs, bichrome chimneys and garret windows would be completely redone in Louis xv style. The project was
with pediments (see pp. 68 and 206-209); in 1901 Marc Morel asked budgeted at over half a million francs for one hundred extra beds.
the board to appoint Eugène Jost (1865-1946) to work alongside Its high cost and inconvenience (the hotel would have had to close
Van Muyden and help see the project through, since it was suffering for the work) made the board think again, and it gradually came
from delays. Although Van Muyden was consulting architect to round to the idea of constructing an annexe alongside the original
the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, he had little experience of Beau-Rivage building. In 1903 the board met to discuss the plan,
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hotel architecture, and was best known for his restoration work identifying the difficulty of acquiring the land and of organising
on historical monuments. Jost, on the other hand, was a renowned the service area as the main problems. The space between the 1861
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specialist on the subject. By the time he was approached for the building and the Hôtel d’Angleterre was considered too restricted
Beau-Rivage, he already had a number of prestigious building and they concluded that this solution was ‘not the best we could hope
projects in Montreux to his name, including the Richelieu, Europe, for’; by contrast, erecting a new wing on this site would enable the
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National and the Caux Palace hotels (the latter being still under kitchen and offices to be housed in the basement between the two
construction). The Beau-Rivage would be one of his masterpieces, buildings, a practical location for the service area. However, this
along with the Hôtel des Alpes in Territet and the Montreux Palace. layout would oblige hotel guests to cross the dining room located
When Morel suggested Jost for the Beau-Rivage job, the architect above the service area in order to reach the other wing, which was
was a regular fixture in Lausanne, having worked on the building not ideal: when faced with a similar problem at the Grand Hôtel
project for the Hôtel des Postes (1896-1901), the restoration of and Hôtel des Alpes in Territet (1904), Jost had only been able to
the Château Saint-Maire (1898-1900) and the project for the come up with an awkward solution, whereby guests had to walk
assembly room of the Grand Conseil, the Vaud regional council down and up some steps before taking a corridor under the room
(1898). At the start of the twentieth century, then, Jost appeared to so as to avoid it. Unfortunately, constructing a wing to the east of
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