Page 84 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 4 Fig. 5

(fig. 7). The need to replace the former landing stage was felt Mr Tschumi with regard to the organisation of the telephone, telegraph
immediately: ‘Finally recognising, gentlemen, that the relocation of the and postal service in hotels with modern equipment, particularly the hotel
steamboat landing stage was detrimental to us in the sense that not only Marcuard in Stuttgart. Mr Tschumi presented a sketch he had made with
did the tourists now disembark a long way away from our establishment, a view to installing a satisfactory system for these different services and for
but also the pleasure yachts that often come to Beau-Rivage could no the information desk in the present foyer of the Hôtel Beau-Rivage.’
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longer easily set down their owners […] we have built a small landing The following year, an internal telephone system was installed
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stage designed to overcome these disadvantages.’ in the Palace. Finally, in 1909, each floor was equipped with a
Because the building of the Quai d’Ouchy had required the telephone connection to the public network.
destruction of this installation, the question of access from the
lake resurfaced in 1912. By that time the internal combustion REASONS FOR THE MODERNISATION OF BEAU-RIVAGE
engine was in fashion, a new technology fitted in yachts and Built between 1858 and 1861, the Beau-Rivage aimed to be
speedboats. After considering the construction of a private ranked among the world’s first-class establishments from the outset.
landing stage for the Beau-Rivage Palace, the board decided At that time, luxury hotels were classified, above all, according to
to participate in the financing of a project put forward by the their architectural merits, the opulence of their furnishings and
Société de développement d’Ouchy. the quality of their food and service. The beauty of the site,
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Although less critical than the question of transport, com- in particular the view over the lake and the Alps, was another
munication networks are still very important to a hotel’s successful distinction enjoyed by travellers sensitive to romantic landscapes.
operation. Guests who come to the Beau-Rivage Palace demand On a technical level, there were still very few comforts . The
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that this luxury dream retreat be properly connected to the rest boldest move had been to install gas lighting. Outstripping the
of the world. Politicians, bankers and the independently wealthy Hôtel des Bergues, which had pioneered the lighting in 1844
want to be able to continue to run their business affairs. As soon with the installation of two candelabras in its dining room, Beau-
as Beau-Rivage opened, therefore, the hotel negotiated the setting Rivage was the first Swiss establishment to boast gas-lit suites.
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up of a telegraph office with the federal administration in charge During its first two decades of operation, few fundamental
of the network. This technology, which was introduced in changes were made to the facilities of a hotel that was still brand
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Switzerland at the beginning of the 1850s, was revolutionising new. This conservative attitude, which also prevailed with regard
the Swiss communications system, based at the time on letters and to the upkeep of the infrastructure, was not without its problems.
newspapers. Between 1862 and 1871, the number of telegrams For example, it was not until several families left the hotel, upset by
sent from the hotel rose from 2228 to 6587. The telephone first the nauseating smell of the latrines, that new water-closet systems
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appeared in Switzerland at the end of the 1870s, but was initially were tested and introduced. The recession of 1875 to 1885,
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used for internal communications. In 1879, the Grand-Hôtel in which was accompanied by poor financial results (table 2, p. 98),
Territet was the first to introduce a link between the rooms and partly explains this overcautious attitude. In May 1879, the
reception. Connections to the national network and then to the directors shrank from spending the modest sum of 700 fr. on
international network only began to be set up in the early 1900s. improving the external lighting: ‘[…] the board finds that the present
Beau-Rivage had installed its first line by 1904. Two years later, circumstances are too unfavourable for it to be acceptable at this time to
the communications resources were completely reorganised: ‘Mr make an improvement that is undoubtedly appropriate, but which is not,
de Crousaz reported to the board on what he had seen during his trip with however, urgent’. Their wariness of technical innovation also had
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Switzerland’s first cable-traction funicular railway Place du Port, Ouchy. Postcard, c.1905.
between Lausanne and Ouchy, which came into service in 1877. Photograph, 1883.

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