My grandparents, who lived in Nancy (eastern France), endured both the German hostilities in WWI and then again the Nazi occupation from the invasion to the liberation (they emigrated to the USA in 1947). One of my goals visiting Paris was to experience as many sites relating to both WWI (which my great-grandfather served in a medical unit) and WWII (as my grandfather and aunt [Mom's older sister] were in the Resistance). I noticed this lovely hotel more so due to the frieze art on the structure. Who knew it has such a storied history related to both France and the USA!
"The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting in 1919 and 1920 of the victorious Allies after the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, it resulted in five treaties that rearranged the maps of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, and also imposed financial penalties. Germany and the other losing nations had no voice in the Conference's deliberations; this gave rise to political resentments that lasted for decades.
The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities. Its major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states; the awarding of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates", chiefly to Britain and France; the imposition of reparations upon Germany; and the drawing of new national boundaries, sometimes involving plebiscites, to reflect ethnic boundaries more closely.
Wilson's liberal internationalist foreign policy goals, stated in the Fourteen Points, became the basis for the terms of the German surrender during the conference, as it had earlier been the basis of the German governments negotiations in the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
The main result was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany; Article 231 of the treaty placed the whole guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies". That provision proved very humiliating for Germany, and set the stage for the expensive reparations that Germany was intended to pay (it paid only a small portion before its last payment in 1931). The five great powers (France, Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States) controlled the Conference. The "Big Four" were French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. They met informally 145 times and made all major decisions before they were ratified." (excerpted from (
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"The building that is now the hotel was constructed in 1758, after King Louis XV commissioned the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build two neoclassical palaces in what would become the Place de la Concorde. The two identical buildings, separated by the rue Royale, were initially designed to be offices of the French state. The eastern building, Hôtel de la Marine, housed the headquarters of the French Navy until 2015. The western building that would become the Hôtel de Crillon was first occupied by Louis Marie Augustin, Duke of Aurmont, a famous patron of the arts. The building was further enhanced by its second owner, the architect Louis-François Trouard, who had the Salon de Aigles built in 1775.
On 6 February 1778, the building was the venue where the newly founded United States and France signed their first treaties. 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.
In 1788, François Félix de Crillon (son of Louis de Crillon, Duke of Crillon) acquired the building for his home. However, the government of the French Revolution confiscated the property in 1791. During this period, the home was used by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Two years later in 1793, King Louis XVI as well as Queen Marie Antoinette were guillotined in the Place de la Concorde directly in front of the building.
Eventually, the building was returned to the Crillon family, whose descendants lived there for more than a century until 1904. 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 architect Walter-André Destailleur. This included the purchase of two neighbouring buildings on the rue Boissy d'Anglas to enlarge the property. The new Hôtel de Crillon opened on 12 March 1909.
The hotel housed members of the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, including President Wilson's key advisor, Edward House.
From 1992 to 2012, the hotel was the venue of the Bal des débutantes, an annual fashion event which was cited by Forbes in 2005 as one of the world's ten best parties. The hotel has been visited by many notable figures over the years, including Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Madonna, Taylor Swift, and Roger Federer.
In March 2013, Hôtel de Crillon closed for a series of renovations led by Aline Asmar d'Amman. This project was designed to renovate and modernize the space. The renovation combined the hotel's protected landmark features, such as the 19th-century grand staircase and saloons, with modern styles and amenities. Tristan Auer, Chahan Minassian, Cyril Vergniol and Karl Lagerfeld worked alongside d'Amman on this €200 million project. Karl Lagerfeld designed Les Grands Apartements, the most extravagant suites on the property. The 2013 renovations lasted until July 2017.
In Earnest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926), Jake Barnes, the novel's main protagonist, writes letters in the lobby of the Crillon while waiting for his lover, Lady Brett Ashley. Later he enjoys a Jack Rose cocktail at the bar, realizing she has stood him up. It is also mentioned in Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro_(short_story)." (from (
visit link) The French Wikipedia article includes many more details - (
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