The Hôtel des Alpes-Grand Hôtel or Résidence des Alpes is an assemblage of buildings which formed a former palace in the city of

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

in Switzerland

History

In 1840 the town bought a parcel of land on which to build a hostel entitled 'Chasseur des Alpes'. 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. 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.. The two buildings were linked by a corridor and soon formed a single structure. Among the Hôtel's many notable guests were

Elisabeth of Bavaria Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth was ...

, who visited four times, and

Francis Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

in 1893. The Hôtel built on this success, housing the first telephone in Switzerland. In 1971, Deep Purple temporarily converted one of its corridors to a live room in order to record ''

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

'' after a flare gun incident set their intended venue,

Montreux Casino Montreux Casino (Casino Barrière de Montreux) is a casino located in Montreux, Switzerland, on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. It has served as the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival and was rebuilt following a 1971 fire memorialized in the D ...

, on fire. 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, though this closed in 2008 and left the premises in 2012 to allow for their renovation. The two buildings are classed as cultural monuments. It suffered fires on 29 January 1984 and 28 September 2012.

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

Buildings and structures in the canton of Vaud Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud {{Switzerland-struct-stub