Page 230 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

1. Laurent Tissot, ‘Hôtels, pensions, pensionnats et cliniques: fondements pour une histoire per extra day (roughly equivalent to a month’s pay for the site foreman)
de “l’industrie des étrangers” à Lausanne, 1850-1920’, in Brigitte Studer and Laurent (ABR, Minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 17 November 1911).
Tissot (ed.), Le passé du présent, Payot, Lausanne, 1999, pp. 69-88. 28. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 17 January 1908.
2. We should bear in mind that the semicircular layout of lakeside resorts is so commonplace 29. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 19 June 1908.
as to be practically obligatory (Dominique Rouillard, Le site balnéaire, Mardaga, Liège/ 30. The car park currently located in the north courtyard somewhat ruins the effect.
Brussels, 1984, p. 124ss.). 31. On this subject, see François Loyer, Paris XIX e siècle. L’immeuble et la rue, Hazan,
3. Now the Haute école pédagogique du canton de Vaud teaching college. The original Paris, 1987.
building was designed by the architect Adrien van Dorsser for a limited company, and 32. See Roland Flückiger-Seiler’s contribution in this book, p. 232.
converted for use by the École polytechnique in 1943 and 1957-58 by Jean Tschumi. The 33. A doubt still remains on this subject with regard to the Palace, which Bezencenet would
present state of the building is largely the result of the effect of these alterations. appear to have designed, or if not, at least executed.
4. Notably the former Maison Panchaud which was a guesthouse between 1885 and 1918 34. His archives, which are kept in the archives de la construction moderne (ACM) (École
before becoming a hotel (the Hôtel Lutetia). Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), contain an elevation in colour drawn on tracing
5. Notably Bois-Cerf (1902) and La Pensée (1905). paper entitled ‘Concours A. Leclère / Prix Girault élève de Daumet / 1879’.
6. According to the chronological appellation, we use Beau-Rivage for the first hotel and 35. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 16 January 1909. The architects and
Palace for the ‘annexe’ built in 1905-08. committee members chose new furnishings for the hall on this occasion: Empire style
7. Morel financed and managed establishments in Montreux, Leysin, Les Avants and Chexbres in dark mahogany and green velvet.
(see our paper on this subject: ‘Lavaux-Palace. L’invention d’une région touristique – 36. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 31 January 1906.
1860-1920’, in Revue historique vaudoise, 114, 2006, pp. 181-193). 37. Ibidem.
8. According to Lombard, ailing people were not to favour Lausanne-Ouchy over Geneva, 38. Ibidem.
since the heat, mist and wind were hardly conducive to them. In 1899, La Harpe 39. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 30 October 1906.
recommended the spot for its baths; he did not consider Lausanne and the surrounding 40. Edouard Ossent, Hôtels de voyageurs au XX e siècle, Librairie centrale d’art et d’architecture,
area as a health resort (Henri-Clermont Lombard, ‘Du climat de Genève comparé avec celui Paris, undated [1920].
de quelques localités situées au bord du lac de Genève’, in Bibliothèque universelle des
sciences, belles-lettres et arts, 1833, vol. 1, Science et arts, 52, pp. 1-23, here
pp. 9-10; Eugène de la Harpe, La Suisse balnéaire et climatique, ses eaux minérales,
bains, stations climatiques d’été et d’hiver, établissements hydrothérapiques [etc.],
C. Schmidt, Zurich, 1899).
9. Guy Saudan, La médecine à Lausanne: du XVI e au XX e siècle, Ed. du Verseau,
Denges, 1991, pp. 108-138.
10. The Catholic church on the Chemin du Beau-Rivage (desiged by Bezencenet) regularly
said mass close to the hotel.
11. Of 68,516 nights, 29.9 per cent of guests were French, 17.9 per cent English, 13.8
per cent American and 10.2 per cent German (archives du Beau-Rivage (ABR), ABR,
shelf mark 046, Rapport du Conseil d’administration de la Société immobilière d’Ouchy à
l’Assemblée générale ordinaire du 19 avril 1909 à l’Hôtel Beau-Rivage, 29 April 1909).
12. He built the structure which housed the hotel’s electricity generator in 1895 (ABR,
Copies of letters 1880-97, letters of 14 March 1893, 26 February and 7 December 1895).
13. On this subject, see Dave Lüthi (ed.), Eugène Jost, architecte du passé retrouvé, Presses
polytechniques et universitaires romandes, Lausanne, 2001.
14. ABR, shelf mark 079, Rapport au Conseil d’Administration sur les divers projets de
construction, de réparations et d’aménagement de l’hôtel Beau-Rivage, December 1901.
15. ABR, shelf mark 046, Rapport au Conseil d’administration de la Société immobilière d’Ouchy
sur la construction d’une annexe, 4 November 1903.
16. ABR, Copy of letters 1903-06, 28 March 1904.
17. ABR, shelf mark 046, Rapport à l’assemblée générale extraordinaire des actionnaires de
la Société immobilière d’Ouchy, du 29 Novembre 1904 sur le projet d’extension &
d’agrandissement de l’Hôtel Beau-Rivage, 29 November 1904.
18. Ibidem.
19. The building project was approved in 1903 and executed between May 1904 and March 1906.
20. Bezencenet drew up the specifications for the guest-room wing.
21. Schnell was also a graduate of the Beaux-Arts college in Paris, and collaborated regularly
with Jost between 1904 and 1913, notably on the buildings on Avenue Juste-Olivier
20-22 and the former Banque de dépôts (now Crédit Suisse) on Avenue Benjamin-
Constant, all in Lausanne.
22. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 17 November 1906, 30 August 1907.
23. There were thirteen strikes in Lausanne during the 1906-07 period, including the
joiners’ strike (January to May 1906), the cabinetmakers’ strike (February to May 1906)
and the builders’ strike (May to September 1906).
24. ABR, minutes of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 12 November 1906.
25. Ibidem.
26. This is not to suggest that the situation in Montreux was perfect: the Menuiserie modèle
Held joinery was as notorious for its late deliveries as it was renowned for its
excellent work.
27. The deadline for completing the building work was pushed back to 30 June 1907, after
which the building contractor was liable to pay the Société a hundred francs’ penalty
Letter from the architects Jost, Schnell & Bezencenet to Fédor de Crousaz,
chairman of Société immobilière d’Ouchy, 23 August 1905.

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