The Carlton Hotel was a luxury hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. The Carlton was built in 1955 on

Avenue General de Gaulle Avenue Général de Gaulle is a seaside, palm-lined street in Beirut, Lebanon. The avenue, which was named in honor of the French general and president Charles de Gaulle, forms with Avenue de Paris the Corniche Beirut promenade. The avenue runs no ...

, the southern part of the

Corniche Beirut The Corniche Beirut is a seaside promenade in the Central District of Beirut, Lebanon. Lined with palm trees, the waterfront esplanade has views of the Mediterranean Sea and the summits of Mount Lebanon to the east. Corniche Beirut has its fou ...

, offering 140 rooms with uninterrupted view to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, but it was demolished in 2008, causing a lot of criticism and triggering a renewed consciousness about the need to preserve modern heritage. The Carlton Hotel was designed by Karol Schayer, a Polish architect who came to Beirut during the Second World War and Lebanese architects Makdisi, Shayer, and Adib. It quickly attracted a cosmopolitan clientele, and its swimming pool and gardens overlooking the Corniche compensated from its distance from the shoreline. The hotel was not only a popular tourist resort and one of the symbols of the hedonistic pre-war years, but it was also a popular destination for the LGBTQ community in Beirut. During the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

, Riad Taha, who was the president of the Syndicate of Publishers Union and at the time, trying to forge an anti-PLO front in Beirut, was murdered by the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

outside the hotel. Because it was not looted like the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, the St. Georges, or the

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

were, or burnt like the Grand Serail was, the Carlton was chosen as the venue for the presidential election when on May 8, 1976,

Élias Sarkis Élias Sarkis (; 20 July 1924 – 27 June 1985) was a Lebanese lawyer and politician who served as the 6th president of Lebanon from 1976 to 1982. Early life and education Élias Sarkis was born in Chebanieh, a mixed Christian-Druze mountain vil ...

became

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Films set at the Carlton

Ankhen (1968 film) ''Ankhen'' (''The Eyes'') is a 1968 Hindi spy thriller produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The film stars Mala Sinha, Dharmendra, Mehmood, Lalita Pawar, Jeevan and Madan Puri. It was estimated to be the most profitable Hindi film of 1968 ...

References

{{Hotels in Beirut Hotels in Beirut Tourism in Lebanon Resorts in Lebanon Demolished buildings and structures in Lebanon Buildings and structures demolished in 2008 Hotel buildings completed in 1955 Demolished hotels Defunct hotels