RITZ.[P].ARIS
© RITZ PARIS : 2017
The Ritz Paris is a hotel in central Paris, in the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15. The hotel is ranked among the most luxurious hotels in the world and is a member of "The Leading Hotels of the World". The Ritz Paris reopened on 6 June 2016 after a major four-year, multimillion-dollar renovation. The hotel, which today has 159 rooms, was founded in 1898 by the Swiss hotelier, César Ritz, in collaboration with the French chef, Auguste Escoffier. The new hotel was constructed behind the façade of an 18th-century town house, overlooking one of Paris's central squares. It was among the first hotels in Europe to provide a bathroom en suite, a telephone and electricity for each room. It quickly established a reputation for luxury, with clients including royalty, politicians, writers, film stars and singers. Several of its suites are named in honour of famous guests of the hotel, including Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway, who lived at the hotel for years. One of the bars of the hotel, Bar Hemingway, is devoted to Hemingway. L'Espadon is a world-renowned restaurant, attracting aspiring chefs from all over the world who come to learn at the adjacent Ritz-Escoffier School. The grandest suite of the hotel, called the Suite Impériale, has been listed by the French government as a national monument in its own right. During the Second World War, the hotel was taken over by the occupying Germans as the local headquarters of the Luftwaffe. After the death in 1976 of Ritz's son, Charles, the last members of the Ritz family to own the hotel sold it to the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1979. On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales dined in the hotel's Imperial Suite, shortly before her death in a fatal car crash. The hotel has been entirely renovated in order to help it attain the 'Palace' distinction, which is a title bestowed by the French ministry of economy, industry and employment. It was closed from 1 August 2012 and reopened in June 2016. Because of its status as a symbol of high society and luxury, the hotel has featured in many notable works of fiction including novels (F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises), a play (Noël Coward's play Semi-Monde), and films (Billy Wilder's 1957 comedy Love in the Afternoon and William Wyler's 1966 comedy How to Steal a Million).
“Ritz purchased the palace and transformed the former Hôtel de Lazun building into a 210-room hotel”
The site was purchased in 1705 by Antoine-François Bitaut de Vaillé, and a private residence was constructed, which was occupied by several noble families and later became the Hôtel de Gramont. The façade was designed by the royal architect Jules Hardouin Mansart. In 1854 it was acquired by the Péreire brothers, who made it the head office of their Crédit Mobilier financial institution.[citation needed] In 1888, the Swiss hotelier César Ritz and the French chef Auguste Escoffier opened a restaurant in Baden-Baden, and the two were then invited to London by Richard D'Oyly Carte to become the first manager and chef of the Savoy Hotel, positions they held from 1889 until 1897. The Savoy under Ritz was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. In 1897, Ritz and Escoffier were both dismissed from the Savoy, when Ritz was implicated in the disappearance of over £3400 worth of wine and spirits. Before their dismissal, customers at the Savoy had reportedly urged them to open a hotel in Paris. Aided by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle, Ritz purchased the palace and transformed the former Hôtel de Lazun building into a 210-room hotel. He stated that his purpose for the hotel was to provide his rich clientele with "all the refinement that a prince could desire in his own home."He engaged the architect Charles Mewès to update the original 1705 structure. Ritz's innovative standards of hygiene demanded a bathroom for every suite, the maximum possible amount of sunlight, and the minimum of curtains and other hangings. At the same time he furnished the hotel with all the old-fashioned appeal of an English or French gentleman's house, in order to make clients feel at home.
“Hosting many prestigious personalities over the years, such as Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, King Edward VII, and the couturier Coco Chanel, who made the Ritz her home for more than thirty years.”
"When I dream of afterlive in heaven, the action always takes place in the Paris Ritz."
―ERNEST HEMINGWAY
The hotel opened on 1 June 1898 to a "glittering reception". Together with the culinary talents of his junior partner Escoffier, Ritz made the hotel synonymous with opulence, service, and fine dining, as embodied in the term "ritzy." It immediately became fashionable with Parisian socialites, hosting many prestigious personalities over the years, such as Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, King Edward VII, and the couturier Coco Chanel, who made the Ritz her home for more than thirty years. Many of the suites in the hotel are named after their famous patrons. Hemingway once said, "When in Paris the only reason not to stay at the Ritz is if you can't afford it". Hemingway, who stayed at the hotel many times after World War II, was there when he learned his wife wanted a divorce. He reacted to the news by throwing her photo into a Ritz toilet and then shooting the photo and the toilet with his pistol. Garden terrace (1904), Pierre-Georges Jeanniot In 1904 and 1908, the Ritz garden café was painted by the Swiss artist, Pierre-Georges Jeanniot. Proust wrote parts of Remembrance of Things Past here from around 1909. The building was extended in 1910, and César Ritz died in 1918, succeeded by his son, Charles Ritz. Queen Marie of Romania stayed at the Ritz Hotel with her two eldest daughters, Elisabeth (of Greece) and Maria (of Yugoslavia) in 1919 while campaigning for Greater Romania at the Paris Peace Conference. Many other prominent royal figures and heads of state slept and dined at the hotel over the years. Edward VII reportedly once got stuck in a too-narrow bathtub with his lover at the hotel. August Escoffier died in 1935. In summer 1940, the Luftwaffe, the air forces of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, set up their headquarters at the Ritz, with their chief Hermann Göring.
“It is referred as the best hotel in Europe and one of the world’s most famous hotels. It is one of “The Leading Hotels of the World”. ”
After the death of Charles Ritz in 1976, the hotel went into a period of slow decline. As it lost its luster, its clientele diminished, and for the first time in its existence it began to lose money. It was rescued, however, in 1979 by an Egyptian businessman, Mohamed Al-Fayed, who purchased the hotel for $20 million and installed a new managing director, Frank Klein. Klein in turn put Guy Legay, the former chef of the three-star Ledoyen, in charge of the kitchen. Al-Fayed renovated it completely over several years without stopping its operation; this was achieved by annexing two town houses, joined by an arcade with many of Paris's leading boutiques. The renovation of the hotel was headed by the architect Bernard Gaucherel from 1980 to 1987. The entire ten-year renovation cost a total of $250 million. The restaurants were given a new look, and a swimming pool, health club, and spas were created in the basement. The Little Bar was renamed the Hemingway Bar. In 1988 the Ritz-Escoffier School of French Gastronomy was established in honour of Auguste Escoffier. Entrance, 2009 On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales and Al-Fayed's son Dodi Al-Fayed, and their chauffeur Henri Paul, dined in the Imperial Suite of the hotel before leaving the hotel with bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, only to have a fatal car accident in the Pont de l'Alma underpass. In the 21st century, the Ritz is ranked among the most luxurious hotel in the world and the most expensive in Paris. It is referred as the best hotel in Europe and one of the world's most famous hotels. It is one of "The Leading Hotels of the World". On August 1, 2012, the Ritz closed for the first time in its history for an extensive restoration. It was scheduled to reopen in late 2015, but this date was later changed to March 2016. At 07:00 local time on 19 January 2016, a major fire broke out in the roof of the building. Fifteen fire engines and 60 firefighters attended. The Ritz reopened on 6 June 2016 after a major four-year, multimillion-dollar renovation.