Book Review: Le Grand Hotel & Le Cafe de la Paix

Discover the plush elegance of Le Grand Hôtel and Café de la Paix – a hub of society elegance since 1862. Part of Baron Haussmann’s urban renewal programme in the 19th century, the hotel and café occupy a choice location among the Parisian façades surrounding Paris’s Opéra Garnier. This bilingual edition retraces the history of the Belle Époque palace, where visitors from all over the world met under the glass roof of its winter garden (pictured).

Grand Hotel Paris

In 1904, the Grand Hotel’s head barman Franck Newman invented the original dry martini as a tribute to actress Sarah Bernhardt, a regular guest. Café de la Paix has been a meeting-place for notables from Oscar Wilde to Ernest Hemingway and Marlene Dietrich to Ines de la Fressange. Blending architecture, history and timeless luxury, this volume celebrates the hotel and café that were at the epicentre of the most cherished era in Parisian history.

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From France Today magazine