| Grand Hotel Intercontinental Paris 2 Rue Scribe 75009 Paris, France Tel +33 (0)1 40 07 32 32 Fax +33 (0)1 42 66 12 51 Official Website Google Maps |
 Reviews for this property |
Hotel Designs’ Review:
The Grand was built by Louis Napoleon as an Hotel; the architect went on to build the Opera House next door, in Place de l’Opera. Both have grandeur and glorious detailing. The hotels streetside café, the Café de la Paix, was the first and is still the greatest of them all. Remodelling interiors of buildings like this involves historic buildings experts, controls and rules – but interiors of buildings like this were created glorious, remain glorious and should be kept glorious as befits the great Parisian hotels.
Inside the public areas are magnificent. Some might say over the top even, but as they were designed for an Emperor then the most discriminating guest will accept the glory of the interiors. All this is as it should be – a five star Parisian hotel is the ultimate in theatre, defines the word luxury, and exceeds any normal expectation of what one might see in a domestic situation (see our earlier Review of the Meurice in the archives for another example).
Well that is the theory, and in the public areas the reality matches the theory pretty well, although some of the colouration and detailing (in the carpets for instance) perhaps lacks finesse. The inheritance is magnificent. Three entrances for example. A wonderful portrait of the actress Sara Bernhardt graces the lift lobby, because according to my guide, ‘she brought so much custom to the hotel’, whilst the lift lobby itself is exquisitely detailed and carries the historic mark of being the first hydraulic lift system in Paris with ease and grace. Copyright
