The Rise and Fall of Hotels in Grasse

At the time of writing this post, there is only one hotel open in Grasse's old centre: the Panorama, located near Cours Honoré Cresp, although a little out of town there are also the Best Western Elixir and the small but luxurious Bastide St Antoine. In the 1930s, however, there were six hotels in the town centre and thirteen large establishments serving tourists and winter residents nearby. What happened?

Hotels in the 1890s

The map below shows Grasse's hotels in the 1890s, with the old town area marked in yellow. Four hotels were located on the edge of the old town, catering to overnight and business visitors. These hotels were close to the remnants of the old walls and were successors to the inns that had served travellers along the ancient route through the town. Evidence of auberges, with names such as the Ecu de France, dates back to the fifteenth century.

Grasse hotels in the 1890s. Old town hatched in yellow. Source: Google My Maps

Along the road to Magagnosc, the Grand Hotel stood out as an exception. It served wealthy tourists and winter residents, known locally as hivernants ('winterers'). The town's hotels did not cater to this new class of visitors, many of whom chose coastal towns like Nice and Cannes. But others, particularly those with health concerns, were drawn to Grasse for its clean air and perceived favourable climate. The Grand Hotel, completed in 1882 and gaining significant publicity (in the right quarters!) from Queen Victoria's visit in 1891, established itself as the first and largest of a new wave of luxury establishments.

The town authorities, in effect the big perfume manufacturers, were not keen on high-class hotels that could offer better wages to manual workers. Hotel owners like Ferdinand Rost, a German who was instrumental in the Grand's success, posed a potential challenge to their power.

Grasse as a Resort in the 1930s

But they were pushing against the tide. Enthusiasm for Grasse as a winter resort amongst the rich of Europe and the USA drove a demand for hotels to which local banks, financiers and proprietors responded, especially after the Great War. By the 1930s, a map of the town's hotels shows a quite different picture.

Grasse hotels in the 1930s. Town hotels marked in red; tourist and 'hivernant' hotels in blue

No fewer than thirteen luxury establishments emerged, with the Grand Hotel now rivalled by the Park-Palace, the Splendid Hotel Bellevue, the Victoria (by now on av Riou Blanquet), the Belvedere Palace and the Hotel Beau Soleil among others. The map does not account for several pensions (boarding houses) that catered to guests with lower financial means, especially on the heights to the northwest of the town.

Winter Life in the Hivernant Hotels

Emile Litschgy, a Grassois born in 1920, wrote three volumes of history about Grasse. His father owned the Hotel Victoria after the Great War, and Litschgy provides vivid descriptions of the hivernants and their activities during this period in one of his books*.

Two photographs from Litschgy's family album reproduced in his book, showing a coach leaving the Victoria hotel and some guests at a masked ball

He details how families were accompanied by valets, maids, and nurses for their children. Typical English meals, such as lamb with mint sauce and rhubarb pie, were served to British visitors. A monthly magazine, L’Hiver à Grasse (‘Winter in Grasse’), listed who was staying where, with guests arriving from the UK, USA, Germany, and other countries, as well as various parts of France.

A ‘pisteur’ (not related to skiing) greeted guests arriving from the trains to Cannes or Grasse, ensuring their journey to the hotel was swift and comfortable. After arrival, masseurs, pedicurists, and hairdressers catered to guests’ needs. Haute couture dressmakers were also available, and a regular programme of entertainment included masked balls, concerts, and, at Easter, a 'bataille des fleurs’ (‘battle of the flowers’).

Restored 1932 Delage D8 with body by Chapron and Lalique radiator mascot (photo Murgatroyd49), typical of the type of car owned by Parisian hivernants

Litschgy recounts the construction of a new garage at the Victoria, as some guests arrived in their own cars, often with two liveried chauffeurs—'one to drive and the other to open the doors'. Magnificent classic cars, such as Delages, Delahayes, and Hispano-Suizas, were common. He even describes a dispute between hotel owners and carriage (known as 'victorias') drivers about the use of autobuses for local journeys, with the horsemen emerging as the winners.

Litschgy clearly sides with his father in the ongoing tension between the perfume business owners and hotel proprietors. He describes the perfumers as arrogant, noting their indifference to the hivernants, who had to endure the smoke from factory chimneys and the loud sounds of factory sirens.

Despite the impending crisis, hotel owners continued to invest. The last of the hivernant hotels, the Montfleury on St Hilaire hill, was built in the 1930s. Then the second world war abruptly halted the annual influx of hivernants, never to return. Their absence dealt the death knell to the two grandest hotels.

The Grand Hotel

Letterhead of Grand Hotel 1907 (Grasse archives), still celebrating Queen Victoria's visit 16 years later

The Grand Hotel was Grasse’s leading hotel for most of its existence. Due to its German ownership, it was requisitioned as a military hospital in 1914. It underwent complete refurbishment and reopened under new management for the 1920-21 winter season. However, it fell victim to the Italian and then German occupation in 1943-44 and never recovered. Today, it is a residential block known as the Grand Palais, although a plaque over the door still commemorates Victoria’s visit.

The Park-Palace

The Park-Palace (sic—the name was in English) opened in 1928, built on the site of Alice de Rothschild's country cottage, the Villa Victoria.

The Park-Palace in its thirties heyday

For a time, it eclipsed the Grand Hotel and was regarded as one of the best hotels on the Côte d’Azur. However, its glory was short-lived. It became the headquarters of the Italian occupiers in 1943 and was sold by a post-liberation administrator who, according to Litschgy, ‘se refugier au Portugal avec son butin’ (‘ran off to Portugal with his booty’). Like the Grand, it has been converted into apartments since then.

Some other establishments lasted longer, but all were gone by 2000.

The Victoria and the Bellevue

The first Victoria opened as early as 1860 and was the best hotel in town at the time. It was later relocated to the Porte Neuve, but the proprietor decided that location was unsuitable for attracting wealthy British guests. He began constructing a new Victoria on rue Riou-Blanquet. During construction, a fatal accident occurred, prompting him to abandon the site and build a few metres up the hill. The abandoned site was taken over by another hotelier and became the Bellevue!

Then and now. Hotel Bellevue in the seventies with the recently refurbished building below. (Top right) Hotel Victoria in 1995 and (below) today. Even the palm trees have succumbed.

Both buildings still exist. The Bellevue, now an apartment block, retains its old name. The Victoria never fully recovered after World War II, during which it served as a girls’ school and then a barracks. It reverted to a hotel after the war and was later taken over by an insurance company for employee vacations. Since their departure, it has deteriorated on the hill, a forlorn sight above rue Riou-Blanquet. Recently, however, there was good news: the old Victoria has been purchased by a large property investor, with plans to redevelop it into a high-end luxury hotel.

The Beau Soleil

The Beau Soleil evolved from a small pension on bd Crouet (on the route from the station to the town centre) into a significant hotel, all the time under family ownership.

(Left) Postcard with a manipulated (before Photoshop!) image dated August 1970 of Beau Soleil's long-gone pool (Right) Almost ghostly signs on bd Crouet attest to the buildings' previous use

Many postcards and promotional photographs of it exist, including images of its well-known panoramic restaurant, popular for weddings and gatherings. It remained a hotel into the early 1980s before, like its peers, it succumbed to residential conversion.

The Belvedere, later the Montfleury

The Belvedere was one of the last grand hotels, developed in the early 1930s near the site of an older, smaller establishment of the same name. The Grassois were amazed by the architect's inclusion of metal beams and concrete embellishments, ‘tout comme à New York’ (‘just like in New York’).

After a period as the Hotel Montfleury, it became a nursing home and is now part of the Petit-Paris medical complex on the top of St Hilaire hill.

The Town Hotels

Even the town hotels faced decline and disappearance, although some can still be identified.

Hôtel Muraour et de la Poste on bd Jeu de Ballon

The Muraour et de la Poste was the grandest of the town hotels. This photograph shows its restaurant in the 1920s. A photo also exists showing Queen Victoria in her carriage outside the hotel, although it's not clear if she ever visited it.

The Hotel du Commerce, also known for a time as the Hotel Gondran, was built originally to offer hydrotherapy. Grasse's water was considered very pure.

Hôtel du Commerce at 4 bd Fragonard. The wide space in front of it was previously known as Place Neuve and was a popular walking area for Grasse's middle classes.

Hôtel de la Terrasse, 6 bd Fragonard. It's a little further along from the Hotel du Commerce and in front of the recently refurbished municipal police station, which was originally Grasse's post office.

A bar at 33 bd Jeu de Ballon preserves the remains of the Hôtel des Négociants on bd Jeu de Ballon

Hotels in Grasse in the 1980s and today

By the 1990s, the era of Grasse’s grand hotels had come to an end. Better treatments than fresh air became available for invalids, and the allure of the coast proved too strong for the healthy.

Grasse hotels in the 1980s. Old town hatched in yellow. Town hotels marked in red; tourist hotels in blue.

Today, even later establishments such as the Patti (now replaced by apartments), the Hotel des Parfums (a relatively short-lived modern building above the La Foux car park, now derelict), and the Mandarine (originally a religious guest house and later the Sainte Therese pension) have vanished. Only the recently reopened Panorama remains near the old town.

Various projects for a new hotel in the town centre are in the works, possibly as part of the Martelly development or to replace the Hotel des Parfums, and the re-development of the Victoria is likely to go ahead. However, the glorious days of Grasse’s hotels, much like those in many of Europe’s once fashionable spa towns, are now a distant memory.

*Emile Litschgy, 'En ce temps-la 1920-1940', TAC 2002