Hôtel du Louvre

The hotel occupies the block between Rue de Rivoli (facing the Louvre Palace), Rue de Rohan, Rue Saint-Honoré (opposite the Comédie-Française), and Place du Palais-Royal (opposite the Louvre des Antiquaires). It is situated in line with Avenue de l'Opéra.

 

The Hôtel du Louvre was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III in 1855. Under the direction of Prefect Haussmann, the city underwent significant transformation. The dark and unsanitary alleys surrounding the Louvre Museum were replaced with broad avenues. With the opening of Rue de Rivoli, Napoleon III initiated projects for the new opera house and the avenue that would serve it. France was undergoing industrial development and increasing its influence. Plans were underway for the 1855 and 1867 Universal Expositions.^[1] As a result, "Grand Hotels" were constructed, with the "Grand Hôtel du Louvre" being the first, as requested by Napoleon III. Initially, the hotel was built to the east of its current location, on the site of the Louvre des Antiquaires.

 

With approximately 700 modern comfort rooms, elevators, and grand staircases, the "Grand Hôtel du Louvre" was one of the most modern of its time.^[2] It had 1,250 employees who worked there daily, offering various services for travelers for the first time, such as omnibus connections between the hotel and train stations, guides, interpreters, information desk, and currency exchange. Its restaurant also gained international renown for being the first to offer the most famous dishes from various foreign countries.^{[citation needed]}

 

By 1855, 41 luxury boutiques occupied the ground floor of the Grand Hôtel du Louvre. Constantly expanding, the commercial spaces gradually took over the entire hotel. Eventually, in the late 1880s, the hotel gave way to the Grands Magasins du Louvre, as advertised with the slogan "The entire Hôtel du Louvre converted into a store".^[3]

 

In 1887, the hotel was relocated to the other side of Place du Palais-Royal—where it stands today—to make room for the Grands Magasins du Louvre. The impressionist painter Camille Pissarro painted several paintings there in 1897 and 1898, some from the windows of the suite he occupied, which now bears his name.

The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud stayed at the hotel in 1910 and wroteUn Souvenir d'Enfance de Léonard de Vinci there.^{[citation needed]} The hotel also inspired Arthur Conan Doyle, who featured a character staying there in a Sherlock Holmes adventure. In the lobby, a plaque installed by the Sherlock Holmes Society of France commemorates this connection.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, the Hôtel du Louvre served as the headquarters for an SS Sonderkommando.^[4]

In 2001, the hotel was redecorated by the architect Sybille de Margerie.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2012, it was reported that the hotel, owned by the Concorde Hotels & Resorts group, was sold, along with the Martinez, the Palais de la Méditerranée, and the Concorde La Fayette, to investors from Qatar.^[5] The completion of the sale was officially announced on February 1, 2013.^[6] The hotel is now owned by Constellation Hotels Holdings, a management company based in Luxembourg and controlled by Qatari capital.^[6] At the same time, the American hotel chain Hyatt was chosen as the operator.^[6]

Its interior and façades on Rue Saint-Honoré and Rue de Rohan were renovated once again in 2018-2019.^[7]

 

Built during the Second Empire, by architects Alfred Armand, Charles Rohault de Fleury, and Auguste Pellechet, the Hôtel du Louvre features Haussmannian-style exterior architecture: marble, light woodwork, columns, grand chandeliers and staircase, high ceilings, light, and glass roof.^{[citation needed]}

In the novel "Pot-Bouille", Émile Zola places the post-wedding evening meal at the Hôtel du Louvre. In Julien Duvivier's 1957 film adaptation of the book, starring Gérard Philipe, the reception was filmed in a set recreating the hotel, constructed in the Billancourt studios. Mathieu Amalric used the entire hotel as the setting for his adaptation of "L'Illusion comique" (2010).^{[citation needed]}

• Conan, Arthur. L'Aventure des plans du Bruce-Partington (in French).