Hôtel de Crillon

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The Hôtel de Crillon in Paris is one of the oldest and most exclusive luxury hotels in the world. It is located on the foot of the Champs-Élysées at No. 10 on the north end of Place de la Concorde.

The Hôtel de Crillon reflects total opulence, beginning at the honey-colored marble lobby and into the adjacent gastronomic restaurant Les Ambassadeurs filled with crystal chandeliers and decorated in seven different marbles. The hotel's public salons are filled with 17th and 18th century tapestries, chandeliers, gilt-and-brocade furniture, fine pieces of sculpture, and Louis XVI chests and chairs. Its Leonard Bernstein suite, on the top floor with a wrap-around terrace that provides a spectacular view of Paris, also contains one of the maestro's pianos.

1 History
2 Famous customers
3 Debutante Ball
4 External links

[edit] History

Hôtel de Crillon

Hôtel de Crillon (on the left)

The five-star hotel, with 103 guest rooms and 44 suites, occupies one of two identical stone buildings, divided by the rue Royale, that were constructed in 1758 under the auspices of architect Louis François Trouard as a result of a commission from King Louis XV. Initially, both structures were built to serve as government offices and the eastern one continues to this day as Headquarters of the Royale, the French Navy. However, the western building was made into a luxury hotel and was soon frequented by Queen Marie Antoinette and her elite friends. The hotel was where she came to take piano lessons.

In 1788, François-Félix-Dorothee Berton des Balbes, the Count of Crillon, acquired the hotel, only to have it confiscated shortly thereafter by the government of the French Revolution. It was eventually returned to the Count of Crillon's family who ran it until 1907 at which time it underwent a two-year-long refurbishing by the Société du Louvre under the supervision of architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. Today, through the Concorde Hotels Group, the Crillon is still part of the Société du Louvre whose shares are listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Tattinger family holding company. The hotel is run by Anne-Claire Tattinger, Chairperson of the Management Board.

The hotel was where American General John J. Pershing stayed, as did Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as he made his way on an inspection tour in 1918. A year later, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson and the entire American delegation stayed at the Crillon. A salon was set up with telephone switchboards run by the famous bilingual American "Hello Girls." A little more than twenty years later, the hotel would be occupied by the German high command during the World War II occupation of France. Other American Presidents who called the Crillon a temporary home were Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.

[edit] Famous customers

The hotel was the favorite of the Joseph P. Kennedy family and royalty from around the world chooses to stay including George V of the United Kingdom, Hassan II of Morocco and Japan's Emperor Hirohito. The notorious swindler, "Count" Victor Lustig impressed his unsuspecting victims with his luxurious suite at the Crillon. Other celebrities who favored the Crillon were Jacqueline Onassis, Barbara Hutton, Charlie Chaplin, Porfirio Rubirosa, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, and Tyrone Power. In more recent times, Axl Rose, Allan Bloom, Saul Bellow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mariah Carey, Placido Domingo, and Madonna have stayed at the Crillon.

[edit] Debutante Ball

Each year, the Hôtel de Crillon holds the annual Bal des Débutantes (Debutante Ball) for the benefit of a charity. This unique and exclusive event, created by Ophélie Renouard and her team in 1991, is a "coming out" party for twenty-four international young ladies, aged between 16 and 19, whose families are all members of the elite worldwide. The "new debs" all wear gowns from the French haute Couture houses or leading international fashion houses. American presidential niece Lauren Bush caused a sensation when she was presented on the arm of Prince louis de Bourbon at the 2000 ball. Her appearance led to a modeling contract with Tommy Hilfiger. Other young ladies to make their first appearance at the "Crillon Ball" are Lauren's sister Ashley Bush, Amanda Hearst, Victoria and Vanessa Traina, Diana and Angela Mellon, Kathleen Kennedy, the daughter of Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi : Barbara, Princess Costanza Della Torre e Tasso, Alice Ferguson, sister of Sarah, Duchess of York, Eva Rice, Lily Collins, Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, Cosima Ruiz de la Prada, Belen Domecq, Princess Lorenza de Liechtenstein, Princess Fawzia Latifa of Egypt, Elisabeth Senghor, Princess Caroline Murat, Princess Sarah Poniatowska, Diane and Chloé Bouygues, Caroline and Nadine Ghosn, Marie-Solène d'Harcourt, Delphine Arnault, Ségolène Frère, Princess Alexandra de Croÿ, Harumi Klossowska de Rola, Izumi and Yuki Mori, Sarah Miyazawa Lafleur as well as the granddaughters of President Mikhail Gorbachev, Xenia and Anasatasia Gorbacheva and Zoe, daughter of Russian entrepreneur Janna Bullock, the niece and granddaughter of architect I. M. Pei: Penelope Pei tang and Olivia Pei and Bao Bao Wan granddaughter of Wan Li, former chairman of the Chinese National People's Congress and executive vice-premier of China as well as daughter of Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trading.