| Hôtel de Crillon | |
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| Hôtel de Crillon | |
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| Location | Paris, France |
| Address | 10, place de la Concorde 75008 Paris, France |
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| Architect | Louis François Trouard Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur |
| Owner | Concorde Hotels & Resorts |
| Rooms | 103 |
| Suites | 44 |
| Website | www.crillon.com |
The Hôtel de Crillon in Paris is one of the oldest luxury hotels in the world. The hotel is located at the foot of the Champs-Élysées and is one of two identical stone palaces on the Place de la Concorde. The Crillon has 103 guest rooms and 44 suites. [1] It also has three restaurants, a bar, outdoor terrace, gym and health club on the premises.
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The building that is now the Crillon was constructed in 1758 after King Louis XV commissioned the architect Jaques-Ange Gabriel to build two palaces in what would become the Place de Concorde.[2] The two identical buildings, separated by the rue Royale, were initially designed to be government offices of the French state. The eastern building remains to this day the headquarters of the French Navy, the Royale. The northern building that would become the Crillon was first occupied by Louis Marie Augustin, Duke of Aurmont, a famous patron of the French Arts. The building was further enhanced by its second owner, the architect Louis-Francois Trouard, who had the Salon de Aigles built in 1775.[2]
On February 6, 1778, the building was used as the venue for the official signing of the first treaties between the newly-founded United States and France. (This is incorrect. The venue was the next door Hotel de Coislin.) Americans Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee met French diplomat Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval to conclude the French-American treaty that recognised the Declaration of Independence of the United States and a trade agreement.[2]
In 1788 the Count of Crillon, François-Félix-Dorothee Berton des Balbes, acquired the building for his home. But it was confiscated shortly thereafter by the government of the French Revolution in 1791. Two years later King Louis XVI was guillotined in the Place de la Concorde directly in front of the building in 1793.[3]
Eventually the building was returned to its owner whose descendants lived there for more than a century. In 1907, the Société du Louvre purchased the property and transformed it into a hotel. The building then underwent a two-year refurbishment under the supervision of noted architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. Two neighbouring buildings on the rue Boissy d'Anglas were purchased to enlarge the property. The new Hotel Crillon opened on March 12, 1909.[2]
Until 2005, through Concorde Hotels & Resorts, the Crillon was part of the Société du Louvre, whose shares are listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, and was controlled by the Taittinger family holding company. Starwood Capital bought the hotel from the former Taittinger group in 2005. On November 1, 2010, Le Figaro newspaper reported that a sale is in final negotiations to a Saudi group related to the Saudi Arabian Royal Family. On November 23, 2010, the French online newsource 'Challenges.fr' reported the sale of the Crillon to the Saudi Arabian royal family member Prince Mitab Ben Abdalah ben Abd al-Aziz Al Saoud[3][4]
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