The InterContinental Paris Le Grand is a historic

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suite (hotel), suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a d ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, which opened in 1862.

History

Le Grand Hôtel was built by the wealthy brothers Isaac & Émile Pereire and designed by Alfred Armand, who had previously designed the nearby

Grand Hôtel du Louvre Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation) ...

for them. Construction began in April 1861; the hotel was inaugurated on 5 May 1862 by

Empress Eugenie The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother ( empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rul ...

, wife of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, before officially opening on 30 June 1862. The hotel's construction was part of the complete reconstruction of Paris supervised by

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

at the time and it was built in the prescribed style, with a mansard roof. Filling an entire triangular city block, the hotel boasted 800 rooms on four floors for guests, with another whole floor for their servants. The hotel has hosted royalty throughout its long history, including

Tsar Nicholas Tsar Nicholas may refer to: * Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), Emperor of Russia from 1825 to 1855 * Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russi ...

and Tsarina Alexandra,

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

of England and

Queen Rania Rania Al Abdullah (born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania's domestic activities include education, youth, environmental, and health initiatives. Globally, she has campaigned for educati ...

of Jordan.

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

hosted parties at the Le Grand Hotel and

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

used the hotel for the setting of the death of his tragic character

Nana Nana, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana (chief) (died 1896), Mimbreño Ap ...

. In 1869,

James Gordon Bennett Jr. James Gordon Bennett Jr. (May 10, 1841May 14, 1918) was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the ''New York Herald'', founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as ...

, who would soon become publisher of the ''

Paris Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the ''New York Herald Tribune''. Hist ...

'', forerunner of the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'', met with

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

in the hotel's Imperial Suite to convince him to make his famous journey to Africa in search of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

. Creditors of the Péreire brothers seized the hotel in 1878, and in 1887, André Million formed ''Société du Grand Hôtel'' to manage Le Grand Hotel, along with the nearby

Hotel Meurice Le Meurice () is a Brunei-owned Star (classification), five-star luxury hotel in the 1st arrondissement of Paris opposite the Tuileries Garden, between Place de la Concorde and the Musée du Louvre on the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, Rue de Rivoli. Fro ...

and later the Hotel Prince de Galles. The Italian CIGA Hotels chain acquired the three hotels in 1972. CIGA sold the hotels in 1978 for $25 million to Limnico, a Liberia-based subsidiary of Roger Tamraz's First Arabian Corporation. Limnico resold the properties for $55 million just a year later, in October 1979, to

Maxwell Joseph Sir Maxwell Joseph FRPSL (formerly ''Max'' Joseph) (31 May 1910, London – 22 September 1982, Kensington) was the founder of Grand Metropolitan, Grand Metropolitan plc, a large British hotel group. Career Educated at Pitman's Business School,

's UK-based

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

Hotels. Grand Metropolitan acquired the Inter-Continental Hotels chain in 1981, and placed Le Grand Hotel under their management. The hotel was renovated between 1985 and 1990 by noted French designer

Pierre-Yves Rochon Pierre-Yves Rochon (born 1946) is a French interior designer. He has designed luxury hotels and restaurants around the world. Early life Pierre-Yves Rochon was born in 1946. He grew up in Brittany. Career Rochon first worked for designer Michel ...

.http://parislegrand.intercontinental.com/assets/uploads/2017/11/Press-Kit-InterContinental-Paris-Le-Grand.pdf In 1986, the hotel was renamed Le Grand Hotel Inter-Continental Paris. The hotel closed in December 2001 for another major renovation. Inter-Continental Hotels was reorganised as

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. It ...

while the hotel was closed. It reopened on 5 April 2003, with its name modified slightly, as InterContinental Paris Le Grand Hotel. InterContinental sold the hotel to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

-based Constellation Hotels in 2014 for €330 million, although InterContinental continues to manage the property.

Café de la Paix

The renowned

Café de la Paix The Café de la Paix () is a famous café located on the northwest corner of the intersection of the Boulevard des Capucines and the Place de l'Opéra, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. Designed in the Na ...

has been located on the ground floor of the hotel since it opened.

In popular culture

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

filmed large portions of his 1965 sci-fi film ''Alphaville'' in the hotel, using its driveway, lobby, elevators, hallways and winter garden.

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...

set much of his 1988 film ''Frantic'', starring

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...

, at the hotel. Most interiors were filmed on soundstages, but numerous exterior scenes were filmed outside the hotel.

Notes

External links

* {{coord, 48, 52, 15, N, 2, 19, 52, E, region:FR_type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Hotel buildings completed in 1862 1862 establishments in France Hotels in Paris Luxury hotels Hotels established in 1862 InterContinental hotels Buildings and structures in the 9th arrondissement of Paris