The Hôtel Mercure Lyon Centre Château Perrache, originally Hôtel Terminus, then Pullman Perrache, then Château Perrache, is a hotel of the

AccorHotels Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor op ...

group built in 1906. It is located on cours de Verdun in the 2nd arrondissement of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. The hotel was used as the headquarters for the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in Lyon during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is the eponym of the

Marcel Ophüls Marcel Ophuls (; born 1 November 1927) is a German-French documentary film maker and former actor, best known for his films ''The Sorrow and the Pity'' and '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie''. Life and career Ophuls was bo ...

film '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie'' about the Gestapo in Lyon.

History

Construction

In 1902, the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) decided to build a hotel near the

gare de Lyon-Perrache Lyon-Perrache (french: gare de Lyon-Perrache) is a large railway station located in the Perrache district, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, France. The station was opened in 1857 and is located on the Paris–Marseille railway, Lyon–Geneva r ...

. The hotel was built on the site of the former brasserie Rinck. Architect Georges Chedanne was chosen to oversee the construction. He was assisted by a Lyonnais architect, M. Curieux. Construction completed in 1906. The palace hotel's interior was done in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style, designed by artists including the painters Henri Martin and

Ernest Laurent Ernest Joseph Laurent (June 8, 1859 – June 25, 1929) was a French painter and printmaker. He was born in Gentilly and died in Bièvres, Essonne. Laurent was a neo-impressionist artist whose main influences were his instructor Ernest Héb ...

and the sculptor

Edgar-Henri Boutry Edgar Boutry (1857–1938) was a French sculptor who executed several public statues and monuments and worked on several Monuments aux Morts. He also ran the Écoles académiques lilloises. Early years and studies Boutry was born in Lille and ...

. Cabinetmaker

Louis Majorelle Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, (26 September 1859 – 15 January 1926) was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ''ébéniste''. ...

designed the canopies at the north and south entrances of the hotel and did the paneling in the lounges. Several sound-proofing techniques were used in the construction, including using cork and double layers of bricks in the rooms and hallways.

Second World War

During the

, in 1942 and 1943, the hotel became the headquarters of the

in Lyon. Notably, it housed department IV led by

Klaus Barbie Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primari ...

, who was in charge of eliminating the resistance. The film '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie'' by

details the role of Barbie in Lyon.

Second part of the 20th century

The property was renovated in 1959. Portions of the hotel, including the ceiling of the dining room, were destroyed. In 1982, the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

, owner since the incorporation of the PLM, transferred the hotel to the Frantour chain. After the opening of the

gare de Lyon-Part-Dieu Gare de la Part-Dieu (literally "Property of God" railway station) is the primary railway station of Lyon's Central Business District in France. It belongs to the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway. Train services are mainly operated by SNCF with f ...

in 1983, the hotel saw a decrease in clientele. The construction of the in the 1970s resulted in the hotel becoming situated between a highway and the railway line, thus damaging its image. The "groupe Société des Hôtels de Bourgogne" bought the hotel in August 1986 and restored it from 1987 to 1989. In October 1989, the Hôtel Terminus became part of the Pullman chain and was renamed accordingly "Pullman Perrache". It was then renamed "Hôtel Château Perrache" when it was acquired by

Mercure Mercure may refer to: * MERCURE, an atmospheric dispersion modelling CFD code developed by Électricité de France * Mercure Hotels, a chain of hotels run by Accor * French ship Mercure (1783), French ship ''Mercure'' (1783) * Dassault Mercure, a ...

Historic monument designation

The hotel was classified as a historic monument on 24 November 1997. It was labeled "Patrimoine du XXe siècle" of Lyon in 2003. Ancien hôtel Terminus PA69000004 4.jpg, Canopy at the north side of the hotel (cours de Verdun) Lyon - Château Perrache.JPG, East facade

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.accorhotels.com/fr/hotel-1292-mercure-lyon-centre-chateau-perrache/index.shtml Monuments historiques of Lyon Vichy France 2nd arrondissement of Lyon Hotels in France