Hôtel Negresco
Located No. 35 promenade des Anglais, this is probably one of the most celebrated, photographed and filmed buildings in Nice. It was built on the site of the former Sacré-Coeur convent managed by nuns from the order of "Fidèles Compagnes de Jésus" (founded in Amiens, France, in 1820).  With the financial assistance of Alexandre Darracq (1855-1931), a wealthy automobile industrialist, this beautiful neo-Louis XVI style hotel was designed by the Dutch architect Edouard-Jean Niermans (1859-1928), famous for having designed Le Moulin Rouge in Paris. Sculptures by Michel de Tarnowsky adorn the façade.

The front of the building is the most prestigious, with a colossal central body flanked by two lateral rotundas. The rotunda on the east side is crested with a dome, sheltering the main entrance. The cupola in the main lounge was designed by Gustave Eiffel.  It is a striking building, made more so by its dusky pink tiled roof that can be seen from afar.

It was built for the Romanian, Henri Negrescu (1868-1920). Negrescu, the son of a Romanian inn keeper who began his apprenticeship as a baker's boy at the Hotel Capcha in Bucharest, before setting out and working his way up at different hotels around Europe.  By 1902 he had arrived in Nice but feeling his name sounded too foreign, he changed it to Negresco. His expertise was such that he quickly became the director of the Helder restaurant in Monaco where he enchanted his rich and demanding clients with his gourmet's talents, before brilliantly directing the municipal casino in Nice. Such was his talent that he was head-hunted by Alexandre Darracq and offered the position of director.

The hotel's construction began in 1910 and ended with a triumphant inauguration in December 1913 attended by Royalty, numerous Heads of State and a host of celebrities who continued to grace this marvellous hotel for many years. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 caused the hotel to be requisitioned and turned into a military hospital until the end of hostilities (as were the Majestic, the Rhul, the Royal, and Régina to the effect that by December 1914, Nice totalled 6,000 military hospital beds out of the 11,861 available in the Alpes-Maritimes). Lack of any business during those difficult years caused severe financial difficulties for Henri Negresco and the hotel was seized by creditors. By 1918 he was a ruined man. Two years later he died in Paris of cancer.  He was 52.

Personally I am rather at a loss over this story as it seems to me that Negresco was somewhat made the scapegoat for the financial ruin of the hotel. Surely such a dynamic, enterprising and self-made man, head-hunted for his skills, would have found a solution, especially in the light of the fact that the other hotels survived and went on to prosper with the en masse return of tourists shortly afterwards. If anyone should have suffered financial difficulties one would have expected it to have been Darracq. I'm also surprised that the War Ministry did not compensate the hotel's investors for the requisitioning of their hotel. Still, it all makes for a cracking good yarn.

After the war years and with the demise of Henri Negresco, the hotel was taken over by Belgian interests under the direction of another self-made man, George Marquet, a magnet in the European hotel trade and director of the Claridge Hotel in Paris. Financial assistance was again provided by Alexandre Darracq who had by then retired to the French Riviera. During the 1950s part of the northern end of the hotel was sold off and transformed into apartments. In 1957 Paul Augier (1912-1995) became the Negresco's administrator -  the hotel had just been been acquired by his father-in-law's financial group. Upon Paul's death, his wife Jeanne took over the reins and continues running this luxury hotel today. It was declared a French landmark in 1974 and proclaimed a National Historic Monument in 2003.

Outside the hotel’s main entrance you’ll find a super, three metres tall statue of Miles Davis. This beautiful work of art, made from polyurethane foam and resin inlaid with coloured glass and mirrors, was created by the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle in 1999 and later displayed in the "Exposition Niki de Saint Phalle - Rétrospective" held in 2002 in Nice. While some of her creations were on show inside the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, her larger pieces where displayed on Quai des Etats-Unis.

With some reluctance we leave this marvellous hotel behind, but I do recommend you return there either for lunch or partake of afternoon tea in one of their lounges. You will experience luxury, exquisite service and magnificent decor, while creating wonderful memories for you to cherish.  

Now let’s make the short walk (we cross the road) to reach an impressive, almost colonial-style, historical building and its delightful Mediterranean park. You have reached the Palais Masséna (otherwise known as Musée Masséna) at No. 35 on the Promenade des Anglais.

Palais Masséna
The Palais was built between 1899 and 1901 on the site of the former Diesbach villa that was built in 1861. In 1898 Count Diesbach decided to sell the villa to Victor Masséna who didn’t hesitate to pull it down to construct a new residence in its place.  Victor Masséna, 4th Duke of Rivioli and 5th Prince of Essling, and grandson of Maréchal André Masséna, had been inspired by the Villa Rothschild that he and his family had rented in Cannes on previous occasions. He therefore approached Hans-Georg Tersling and Aaron Messiah, asking them to build him something similar. The style is a blend of Italian and French architecture.

After World War I Prince André (Prince Victor’s son) sold the residence to the city of Nice in 1919 but imposed two conditions: the first was that the Palace become a museum dedicated to local history, and the second was that the gardens were opened to the public.

Inaugurated in 1921 the Museum traces the history of Nice through painting, sculpture, jewellery and tapestries, as well as having an important library of historical documents. While the residence has retained all its original features, the garden was slightly modified to allow direct access from the Promenade. It became an Historic Monument in 1975.

Byline: it is interesting to note that Victor Masséna was of Jewish ancestry, his original family name being Menasse. In 1882 he married Paula, widow of the Duke of Elchingen, herself of Jewish birth and a descendent of the Heine-Furtado’s.  Thus it seems there may be a direct family link to Villa Heine and Madame Heine which could explain why Théodor Wolff took refuge there so many years later.

Before we move on to another remarkable icon of the French Riviera, I’m just going to mention a couple of Belle-Epoque hotels that have stood the test of time (ie. they were not demolished). The first one is the rather sophisticated West End Hotel that was originally named Hotel Victoria and built in 1842. It is considered to be the oldest hotel on the Promenade des Anglais. Its next door neighbour, the pink-tinted Hotel Westminster, was built in 1879 in the place of two other villas (one of which was the Dalmas Villa formerly the Robini Villa).  It was constructed by the architect and graduate of the Beaux-Arts of Nice, Louis Castel, for the Schmittz family. Following the “English” style so prevalent at that time, they requested permission of the Duke of Westminster for the right to use his name. The hotel opened in 1880 and was enlarged in 1904, adding the Hall aux Fresques painted by an artist from Florence. The management of the hotel was then entrusted to the Rebettez family, Swiss hotel owners.

In 1950 Madame Schmittz’s grandson inherited the hotel and had it modernized as well as adding two restaurants, a colonial style bar and a nightclub. The two lions which enthrone the entrance of the Westminster came from the villa Les Cariatides owned by the Grinda family, who still run the business today.

A point of interest is that by 1847 a total of 30 hotels had been built in Nice. This figure increased to 64 by 1877, 128 by 1900 and to 182 hotels by 1910;  most were large, luxurious establishments possessing 200 or more bedrooms. The colossal Excelsoir Regina Hotel contained 400, while the Hotel Negresco offered 420 rooms.  However, when one discovers that by 1910 there were already 160,000 winter residents and “tourists” coming to stay in Nice, one can understand the boom for hotels.

We now come to another landmark, albeit a fairly new one compared to our previous buildings. It is Le Palais de la Méditerranée at No.13-15 on the Promenade.

Palais de la Méditerranée
Built in 1927, this prestigious casino hotel was designed by the Niçois architect Charles Dalmas, who had already designed several grand hotels in Nice in association with his son Marcel, after an original idea by J. Aletti, a famous French hotel owner. The project was financed by the American billionaire Frank-Jay Gould, who had launched the nearby seaside resort of Juan-les-Pins and was owner of a string of casinos and hotels on the French Riviera. Its Art Deco façade, made from beige Lens limestone, had (and still has) some truly magnificent bas-reliefs sculptures by Antoine Sartorio.

Under Dalmas's careful eye and direction, it was constructed in one year with the assistance of 350 workers and inaugurated on 10 January 1929 after some difficulties in obtaining a gambling licence, and was a beautiful example of Art Deco. The casino opened onto an immense hall paved with white and beige marble, pink marble columns that supported a superb coffered ceiling and a monumental 20 metres wide staircase leading to the gaming rooms with amaranthine dadoes and figured mahogany opening onto amazing sea-views through vast stained glass picture windows reinforced with wrought iron.  There was also an atrium made from Italian marble from Bologne, an oyster bar, and an all-night restaurant, Salon de la Mer which could seat up to 2,000 guests. A 1,000-seat theatre made up of stalls surrounded by baignoires, with boxes and loges above, and yet another level forming a balcony, attracted the greatest names in the world of Arts and Entertainment, among them Maurice Chevalier, Jules Romain, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker.

After the glitz and glamour of the 1930s, the grandeur of the Palais gradually declined, especially after it had been ravaged by fire in 1934. Gould then decided to rent it to a development company, Société Fermière du Palais de la Méditerranée who managed it until it finally closed its doors in April 1978 due to financial difficulties. Details pertaining to its ruin are quite sordid and would make a jolly good block-buster with sex, greed, corruption and murder all raising their dasterdly heads.  

The Palais's bankruptcy led to the sale of the décor and all its furniture; the beautiful stained glass windows were simply dumped. Vandalized, the building was demolished in May 1990 by mechanical shovels that left a gaping hole. Its two façades became a listed monument in extremis in August 1989.  I first saw this massive building in 2001 when it was still hidden by large wooden boards, and thinking then what a magnificant structure it was. You could just make out the bas-reliefs that hinted of something once very special. 

It reopened in January 2004, following a multi-million Euro restoration overseen by Concorde Hotels & Resorts. The only sad part about this building is when your eyes are drawn away from its beautiful Art Deco style to discover the garishly bright LCD lights illuminating the Casino on the ground floor. Dommage.

I'm not sure about you, but at this point let's come away from the past and return to the here-and-now and enjoy our next discovery. From here the great curve of the Promenade des Anglais meanders round the Baie des Anges towards the airport and the panorama is truly spectacular. It becomes even more spectacular when the sky is set to its deepest blue and a moderate breeze keeps it crystal clear  - it then magically transforms the Mediterranean Sea into a luminous band of sheer turquoise. Absolutely mesmerizing.

As the Promenade became ever more popular the municipality installed a few park benches. These were replaced in the early 1930s by wooden chairs that one rented. But it was no longer the sea that was captivating. Turning their backs to the sea, summer and winter residents would sit and watch the incessent movement of other high society residents as they strolled up and down the promenade between a corridor of seats. In those post-war years it was important to see and be seen.

The iconic blue chairs first made their appearance around 1900. Fifty years later the municipality ordered a more modern range. In 1966 the distinguished French architect and urban planner Jean-Michel Wilmotte was commissioned to design a third-generation chair. The present model, painted in sky blue to complement the azure waters of the Baie des Anges, was placed on the Promenade in 1997. Nice ordered about 2,000 of these very elegant chairs, but due to "misappropriation" (ie. stolen) only around 700 are left. 

During the clashes involving anti-capitalist demonstrators that erupted at the European Union summit in Nice in 2000, dozens of the blue chairs had to be withdrawn from service after they had been hurled at riot police and damaged.  In 2003 when the company responsible for their maintenance fell into financial difficulties, the Wilmotte chairs were placed in storage. When they did finally re-emerge they had been welded together in batches of 10 . . .

Free use of these much loved chairs can be made all year round except when Nice holds its fabulous annual carnival and flower festival in February and large metallic tribunes take their place.

The three series of white pergola's were refurbished in the 1990s to replace the original ones erected in 1935 and offer a wonderful retreat from the Mediterranean sun.  While each one measures 13 metres wide, one measures 54 metres long and the two others 42 metres. They are all built from Douglas Pine and are identical to the ones originally placed at the height of the Palais de la Méditerranée so many years ago.

We're now going to head towards Quai des Etats-Unis and then Quai Rauba Capeu passing some interesting landmarks as we do. I mentioned earlier how the promenade was created to offer a pleasant stroll by the sea for the English gentry, and while it continues to fulfil its original role, other activities have been added for the pleasure of locals and tourists alike. Along its 7kms, cyclists and roller-bladers are able exercise using the special lane provided for them and, in fact, one Sunday a month the Promenade is reserved just for strollers, roller skaters, cyclists and even horse-drawn carriages. If you don't have your own roller-blades you can rent a pair from Roller Station (located on Quai des Etats-Unis).