Hôtel des Alpes-Grand Hôtel

The Hôtel des Alpes-Grand Hôtel or Résidence des Alpes is an assemblage of buildings which formed a former palace in the town of Territet in the Montreux municipality of Switzerland.

Hôtel des Alpes-Grand Hôtel façade

History

In 1840 the town bought a parcel of land on which to build a hostel entitled 'Chasseur des Alpes'.[1] Over the following years this hostel was enlarged three times to become - in 1855 - the hôtel des Alpes. The main building was designed by Henri Chessex, son of the owner and brother of Ami Chessex.[2] The opening of the Hôtel led to a tourist boom and in 1861 a railway line was opened between Montreux and Villeneuve, calling at Territet. In 1875 a dining hall was added to the building and two years later Ami Chessex chose the architect Louis Maillard (later joined by Eugène Jost) to build the Grand Hôtel beside the hôtel des Alpes. The decor was by Marcel de Chollet.[3] The two buildings were linked by a corridor and soon formed a single structure.[4]

Among the Hôtel's many notable guests were Elisabeth of Bavaria, who visited four times, and Francis Joseph I of Austria in 1893.[5] The Hôtel built on this success, housing the first telephone in Switzerland.[6] In 1975 it closed and its main hall and dining hall were turned into a theatre, whilst the Grand Hôtel's bedrooms became the National Swiss Audiovisual Museum,[4] though this closed in 2008 and left the premises in 2012 to allow for their renovation.[7] The two buildings are classed as cultural monuments.[8] It suffered fires on 29 January 1984 and 28 September 2012.[9]

Bibliography (in French)
  • Grand Hôtel et Hôtel des Alpes Territet. Suisse, 1900
  • Gilbert de Montmollin, Le Grand-Hôtel et Hôtel des Alpes de Territet, Audiorama Musée suisse de l'audio-visuel, 1994
  • Dave Lüthi, Le Grand Hôtel et Hôtel des Alpes, Territet: rapport historique et architectural, Service des monuments historiques, 1996
  • Dave Lüthi, Le Grand-Hôtel et Hôtel des Alpes à Territet (1840-1975): Reflet du développement de Montreux au XIXe siècle : Historique et description, Musée du Vieux-Montreux, 1998

References
  1. "Histoire". territet.ch. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  2. "L'Hôtel des Alpes à Territet". mymontreux.ch. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  3. Eugène Jost; Dave Lüthi (2001). Eugène Jost, architecte du passé retrouvé (in French). PPUR presses polytechniques. p. 200. ISBN 9782880744564..
  4. "Territet (VD): Hotel des Alpes" (in German). hotelarchiv.ch. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  5.  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
  6. Christophe Boillat (10 August 2012). "La mue de l'hôtel mythique de Territet révèle un trésor pictural". 24 Heures.
  7. Claude Béda (29 May 2012). "La collection de l'Audiorama est en grand péril". 24 Heures.
  8. "L'inventaire édité par la confédération suisse, canton de Vaud" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29.
  9. Nestor Delpino (28 September 2012). "Un incendie ravage le toit de l'Alcazar à Territet". 24 Heures.

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