{{Short description|Ultra luxury hotel in Paris}} {{Infobox hotel | name = The Peninsula Paris | logo = The Peninsula Paris logo.svg | logo_size = | image = The Peninsula Paris, 23 June 2014.jpg | image_size = | caption = The Peninsula Paris in 2014 | location = Paris, France | address = 19 Avenue Kléber | hotel_chain = | coordinates = | opened_date = 1908 (as Hotel Majestic)<br />2014 (as The Peninsula Paris) | developer = Leonard Tauber | architect = Armand Sibien (1908)<br />Richard Martinet (2014) | operator = The Peninsula Hotels | cost = | owner = Katara Hospitality, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (20%) | number_of_rooms = 200 | number_of_suites = 34 | number_of_restaurants = 3 | floor_area = | floor_count = 6 | height = | parking = 1 | website = {{URL|peninsula.com/paris}} | footnotes = }} '''The Peninsula Paris''' is a historic luxury hotel and also part of the Palaces de France originally known as the '''Hotel Majestic''', located on Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It opened in 1908 as the Hotel Majestic and was converted to government offices in 1936. The hotel served as a field hospital for wounded officers during World War I, staffed largely by British aristocrats. During World War II, it served as the headquarters of the German military high command in France during the German occupation of Paris. The building played a pivotal role in the deportation of Parisian Jews and the 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. The building reopened as The Peninsula Paris in August 2014, following a complicated and costly restoration.
==History==
===Early history of the site=== Avenue Kléber, part of Baron Haussmann's rebuilding plan for Paris, was originally known as l'avenue du Roi de Rome in tribute to Napoleon I’s son, the ''Roi de Rome''. In 1864, a rich Russian nobleman named Alexander Basilewski (de) constructed a palace at 19 avenue du Roi de Rome, designed by architect Clément Parent.<ref name="thepeninsula-paris.com">''The Making of the Peninsula Paris'' by Daniel Jeffreys at [http://www.thepeninsula-paris.com www.thepeninsula-paris.com]</ref>
Basilewski sold the palace in 1868 to the Duke of Sesto, who renamed it the '''Palacio Castilla'''. It was bought on behalf of Queen Isabella II of Spain, who had just been exiled from Spain following the Glorious Revolution. The Duke of Sesto preceded the queen to France and arranged for her welcome by Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie. The Duke of Sesto and Eugénie had known one another since they were teenagers in Madrid.
The Palacio Castilla was used as the queen's home in exile, and it was where the Duke of Sesto and Queen Isabella plotted to have her son Prince Alfonso elevated to the Spanish throne. The duke talked Queen Isabella into abdicating on June 20, 1870, the ceremony taking place at Palacio Castilla in the presence of as many Spanish grandees as could be brought to Paris for the ceremony. The queen's abdication led toward France's declaration of war against Prussia less than a month later.
Queen Isabella continued to live in Paris, while the Duke of Sesto succeeded in arousing support in Spain for Prince Alfonso, who was welcomed into Madrid in 1875 as King Alfonso XII. However, he died at the age of 27 of tuberculosis, and he was succeeded by his son Alfonso XIII as an infant under the regency of his mother Queen Maria Cristina. Dowager queen Isabella continued to live in Paris until her death in 1904. The property was then acquired by hotel magnate Leonard Tauber after a bidding war that involved the United States government and the King of Belgium.<ref name="thepeninsula-paris.com"/><ref>Nancy Becker, ''Moments of Extraordinary Violence and Intensity,'' Denver, Outskirts Press, 2012. </ref>
===Hotel Majestic === ====World War I and the inter-war years==== Tauber constructed the luxurious '''Hotel Majestic''' on the site, retaining Queen Isabella's bathroom accoutrements, including her marble bath, in the Presidential suite.<ref name="thepeninsula-paris.com"/><ref name="free">{{cite web|url=http://heritageechecsfra.free.fr/tauber.htm|title=Tauber|publisher=heritageechecsfra.free.fr|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> Designed by Armand Sibien,<ref name="pss-archi">{{cite web|url=http://www.pss-archi.eu/immeubles/FR-75056-29791.html|title=PSS / Hôtel Le Peninsula Paris (Paris, France)|publisher=pss-archi.eu|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> construction began in 1906 and the hotel opened in December 1908.<ref name="peninsula">{{cite web|url=http://paris.peninsula.com/en/default|title=The Peninsula Paris|publisher=paris.peninsula.com|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> The hotel was purchased by Henry Devenish Harben for use as a military hospital at the outbreak of World War I in 1914,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415239264|pages=269–271|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=giffod3v0FsC|language=en}}</ref> and served in this capacity for five months. It was damaged during its hospital service, and was not renovated and reopened until 1916. In 1919 the Hotel Majestic was the site for the Supreme Inter-Allied Council and Preliminary Peace Conference from February to June.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conseil suprême interallié et Conférence des préliminaires de paix . Hôtel Majestic, Paris. Février-juin 1919 |url=https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/facomponent/d8c723e218a4571f59a004bd6fd514f5325a1a3e |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=FranceArchives |language=fr}}</ref> In 1922 it was the site of a famous dinner hosted by Violet and Sydney Schiff and attended by Marcel Proust, Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso. The "dinner party of the century" was immortalised in Richard Davenport-Hines's book, ''Proust at the Majestic: The Last Days of the Author Whose Book Changed Paris''. The 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad was held at the hotel in 1924. George Gershwin wrote ''An American in Paris'' while staying at the hotel in 1928.<ref name="peninsula" /> British advertising tycoon David Ogilvy, having failed his exams in Oxford, worked in the hotel kitchens between 1931 and 1932.
====World War II====
The hotel was purchased by the French government in 1936 to serve as offices for the Ministry of Defence.<ref name="pss-archi"/> It served as the headquarters of the German military high command in France (Militärbefehlshaber Frankreich)<ref name="histoire-politique">{{cite web|url=http://www.histoire-politique.fr/index.php?numero=21&rub=comptes-rendus&item=341|title=Histoire@Politique : comptes-rendus : Gaël Eismann, Hôtel Majestic. Ordre et sécurité en France occupée (1940-1944)|author=Samuel Rousselier, sml-studio : conception interactive et développement. Benjamin Brard : conception graphique|publisher=histoire-politique.fr|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> from October 1940 to July 1944 during the occupation of Paris in World War II.<ref name="pss-archi"/> During the Nazi Occupation of Paris, staff army officials at The Majestic fought fierce battles with the Gestapo and the SS over policy, especially with regard to the deportation of Jews to concentration camps, reprisals against French partisans and protection of works of art in French museums. The Majestic became known as a centre of opposition to certain aspects of Adolf Hitler's policies, especially when Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel took charge of administering the Militärbefehlshaber Frankreich.<ref name="ReferenceA">Walter Bargatzky, ''Hotel Majestic: Ein Deutscher im besetzten Frankreich''</ref>
On May 22, 1942, following the Wannsee Conference, an exclusive presentation was made to the higher echelons of the German army at the Hotel Majestic by Reinhard Heydrich, one of the main architects of the Holocaust. He spoke of experiments<ref>"Arrivée du Général des SS Heydrich" par Les Actualités Mondiales at [http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85000869 Ina.fr]</ref> for the killing of Jews using a specially prepared truck whose exhaust fumes would kill the deportees. In this context the word “gassing” was first used outside of Hitler's inner circle in relation to the extermination of the Jewish population of Paris.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> On this occasion, Heydrich introduced Carl Oberg, the new police and SS officer for Paris, who had been issued with the authority to order deportations of Jews without reference to the military commander of the French authorities. Militärbefehlshaber Frankreich staff at The Majestic were soon processing hundreds of deportation orders against the Jewish population of Paris. Joseph Goebbels established his Paris propaganda headquarters at the Majestic around the same time and the building's staff assumed control of the notorious Camp de Royallieu at Compiègne, known to the Germans as Frontstalag 122, which served as a feeder station for the extermination camps at Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Buchenwald and Dachau.<ref>Charles Glass, ''Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation''</ref>
Stülpnagel opposed the policy and decided to act against Hitler. With other members of the officer class working out of The Majestic and billeted in The Raphael next door, Stülpnagel began to plan Hitler's assassination from his office on The Majestic's second floor.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kane|first1=Robert B.|title=Disobedience and Conspiracy in the German Army, 1918-1945|date=10 April 2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786437443|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PP7uMQdgv5AC|access-date=12 May 2017|language=en}}</ref> On 20 July 1944, Stülpnagel's co-conspirator Claus von Stauffenberg made his assassination attempt on Hitler at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia. For his part, Stülpnagel put his part of the plot into operation from The Majestic, ordering Hans Otfried von Linstow to round up all SS and Gestapo officers in Paris and imprison them. These events were witnessed by Walter Bargatzky, a high ranking German officer who wrote ''Hotel Majestic: Ein Deutscher im besetzten Frankreich'' and was a supporter of the plot to kill Hitler. After the plot failed, Bargatzky left his office at The Majestic and returned to room 409 in The Raphael to await his arrest. It never came and like other fringe members of the plot, Bargatzky was allowed to serve out the war at The Majestic.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hotels parijs - Wij hebben de beste en goedkoopste hotels voor jou op een rij gezet.|url=https://www.citytripparijs.eu/hotels-parijs/|access-date=12 May 2017|work=Citytrip Parijs|agency=citytripparijs.eu|date=4 January 2014|language=nl-NL}}</ref>
The final battle for The Majestic took place on 25 August in the afternoon as Jaques Massu and Colonel Paul de Langlade of the French 2nd Armored Division moved their troops from the Champs-Élysées to the heavily fortified and barricaded Avenue Kléber.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General'' by William Mortimer Moore</ref> One of Massu's officers worked his way around the rear of The Majestic on Rue la Pérouse, which was protected by a blockhouse that could only be subdued by a bazooka, but the Germans inside the hotel said they would be willing to surrender to regular soldiers, rather than men of the Resistance. A German spokesman was brought to Massu under a white flag and with Langlade's approval, Massu went to The Majestic accompanied by Senior Sergeant Dannic. As they approached Dannic was shot dead by a sniper firing from the hotel's rooftop. Despite this, Massu continued up the hotel's steps and entered The Majestic's lobby to find fifty German officers and 300 other ranks. The Germans surrendered to Massu without further resistance, using a bilingual bell-boy from the hotel as their interpreter.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
====Post-war government offices====
In the post war-era The Majestic served as the first headquarters of UNESCO,<ref name="unesco">{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/history/paris-headquarters/|title=Paris Headquarters | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|publisher=unesco.org|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> from September 16, 1946<ref name="pss-archi"/> until 1958, when it was converted into a conference center for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs,<ref name="travelpulse">{{cite web|url=http://www.travelpulse.com/news/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-preview-the-peninsula-paris-to-debut-aug-1.html|title=Hotel Preview: The Peninsula Paris to Debut Aug. 1 | TravelPulse|publisher=travelpulse.com|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> known as the International Conference Center. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was founded at the hotel in 1960<ref name="oecdobserver">{{cite web|url=http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/3492/|title=A majestic start: How the OECD was won - OECD Observer|publisher=oecdobserver.org|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> and it was the location for the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0123.html|title=Vietnam Accord is Reached; Cease-Fire Begins Saturday; P.O.W.'s to be Free in 60 Days|work=The New York Times|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> that ended American involvement in the Vietnam War.<ref name="peninsula"/> Later, on October 23, 1991, the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, which ended the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and Khmer Rouge civil war, were also signed there.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0gWf3PToYAC&q=1991+Paris+Peace+Accords+%22International+Conference+Center%22&pg=PT60|title=Cambodia's Curse|isbn=9781610390019|access-date=2015-01-02|last1=Brinkley|first1=Joel|date=12 April 2011|publisher=PublicAffairs }}</ref>
===The Peninsula Paris=== The French government sold the building in 2008 as part of a cost-cutting measure to the Qatari Diar firm for $460 million.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Zoe |date=2013-01-21 |title=Qatari Diar sells 20% stake in Paris conference centre |url=https://www.perenews.com/qatari-diar-sells-20-stake-in-paris-conference-centre/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=PERE |language=en-US}}</ref> It reopened on August 1, 2014,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/41928/the-peninsula-paris-opens.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802154236/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/41928/the-peninsula-paris-opens.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-08-02|title=The Peninsula Paris opens|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=2015-01-02}}</ref> following extensive rebuilding by Vinci Construction<ref name="vinci-construction">{{cite web|url=http://www.vinci-construction.fr/france/construction-france/page/Dossiers-archives.htm&doc=A087E344963C8E2DC1257AC9003E550F|title=Les archives des dossiers du mois|publisher=vinci-construction.fr|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> costing €338 million,<ref name="hshgroup">{{cite web|url=http://www.hshgroup.com/en/Property-Management-Portfolio/Projects/The-Peninsula-Paris.aspx|title=The Peninsula Paris | The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited|publisher=hshgroup.com|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> as The Peninsula Paris, the famous hotel chain's first property in Europe, in a joint venture with Katara Hospitality. The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, parent company of Peninsula Hotels, owns a 20% interest in the property.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hshgroup.com/en/Property-Management-Portfolio/The-Peninsula-Hotels.aspx|title=Hong Kong Hotel Investment Services Company|website=www.hshgroup.com}}</ref> The architectural designs were by Richard Martinet of Affine architecture & interior design, while the interiors were by Henry Leung of Hong Kong-based CAP Atelier Ltd.<ref name="luxurytravelmagazine">{{cite web|url=http://www.luxurytravelmagazine.com/news-articles/the-peninsula-paris-makes-a-spectacular-entrance-21092.php|title=The Peninsula Paris Makes a Spectacular Entrance|publisher=luxurytravelmagazine.com|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> The hotel offers 200 luxury rooms, including 34 suites.
==21 avenue Kléber==
The Second Empire building was acquired in 2013 by The Peninsula Hotels and located next to Peninsula Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hshgroup.com/en/Property-Management-Portfolio/Commercial-Residential-Properties-Management/21-avenue-Kleber.aspx|title=21 avenue Kléber - The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited|website=www.hshgroup.com}}</ref> Built in 1900, the building is a commercial building along the historic Avenue Kléber.
==Gallery== <gallery class="center" caption="The Peninsula Paris" widths="200px" heights="160px"> Image:German officer POWs in Paris HD-SN-99-02952.JPG|German officers captured by Free French troops are lodged in the Hotel Majestic Image:Plaque Raymond Bonenfant, 17 rue Galilée, Paris 16.jpg|Plaque commemorating Raymond Bonenfant, who was killed at 17 rue Galilée in the battle for the nearby Hotel Majestic Image:Vietnam peace agreement signing, 27580141, new.jpg|Signing the Paris Peace Accords, 1973 Image:Hôtel-Péninsula-construction-(Paris).jpg|Construction at The Peninsula Paris, June 2012 </gallery>
==See also== * {{portal-inline|Hotels}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category|The Peninsula Paris}} *[https://www.peninsula.com/en/paris/5-star-luxury-hotel-16th-arrondissement Official website] *[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/paris-1919-vers/cong-paix-1919/ Treaty of Versailles & The Hotel Majestic - UK Parliament Living Heritage] *[https://www.intelligenceonline.com/government-intelligence/2024/09/20/the-peninsula-paris-a-luxury-hotel-turned-spy-hub-by-gaza-and-ukraine-crisis,110308556-evl The Peninsula Paris, a luxury hotel turned spy hub by Gaza and Ukraine crisis], Intelligence Online, September 20, 2024 (requires free registration) {{Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels}} {{Hotels in Paris}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peninsula Paris}} Paris Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1908 Category:Hotels in Paris Category:Hotels established in 1908 Category:Hotels established in 2014 Category:French companies established in 1908 Category:Buildings and structures in the 16th arrondissement of Paris