With its dazzling Belle Epoque facade and famous pink
dome, the gracious Negresco Hotel in Nice is celebrating its 100th
anniversary this year. It’s one of only three five-star hotels in Nice and it fills
up a full city block—in both directions--on the Promenade des Anglais, facing the sweeping Baie
des Anges of the Mediterranean Sea. While the Negresco may not be the largest or
flashiest hotel on the Cote d’Azur, it definitely has one of the most colorful
histories. Like the time Richard Burton forgot Liz Taylor’s million dollar
emeralds on a bar stool...or Michael Jackson dressing up like a hooker so he
could slip out of the hotel unnoticed...or James Brown chasing his wife around the hotel in a
jealous rage in the middle of the night...
Those are just a few of the many stories that got out.
Imagine the ones that didn’t!
A bit of backstory: In 1893, a young Romanian named
Henri Negrescu, the son of an innkeeper and a gypsy violinist, arrived in Monte
Carlo to seek his fortune. Through his
jobs at the Helder Hotel and the Municipal Casino of Nice, he met the
celebrated French/Dutch architect Edouard Niermans (creator of the
Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergères)
and financier Alexandre Darracq. Negrescu talked up his dream hotel with Darracq, who
agreed to back him, while Niermans was signed on as the architect. None other
than Gustave Eiffel was chosen to construct the framework of one of Europe’s
most beautiful glass domes, which became the centerpiece of the hotel’s Salon
Royal. For the hotel’s name, Henri chose his given name as a French citizen.
The Negresco first opened her doors in 1912, then
after a brief hiatus, officially launched in January, 1913, boasting
innovations such as a steam autoclave, electric switches, and an internal tube
system for distributing mail to every room. The hotel quickly lured a
glittering international clientele and had an enormously successful first
season, “earning a profit of 800,000 gold francs.’’
When World War I broke out, Henri (by then a Knight of
the Legion of Honneur) transformed his beloved Negresco into a hospital, paying
for the upkeep of
100 beds himself. Later, the hotel fell into
severe financial difficulty, was seized by creditors and was then purchased by
a Belgian company. Meanwhile poor Henri died penniless in Paris in 1920, aged 52.
Fast forward to 1957, when Monsieur Jean-Baptiste
Mesnage and his wife bought the Negresco and moved in. Their daughter Jeanne
Augier, today age 89, still lives on site and is involved in every aspect of
operations. I’m told she’s the last private owner of any Riviera palace
hotel...and that the Sultan of Brunei and Bill Gates, among many others, have
tried to buy her out. An endowment fund was set up long ago to
ensure the Negresco’s future, with beneficiaries including humanitarian causes,
French art programs and animal welfare charities. (Pets are very welcome at the
hotel and Madame Augier’s beloved cat Carmen spends most of the day dozing in a
leather chair in the bar.)
Passionate about French art and antiques, Madame
Augier was already a serious collector by her early 20s. And the Negresco’s walls have always been the
perfect backdrop for her collection. Today, the Negresco is the only
hotel in France that employs a full time curator (Mr. Pierre Couette) for its
art and antiques, a collection that numbers roughly 5,000 pieces. And Jeanne
Augier is still adding to it, her goal being ‘’to present an overall view of the great periods of French
Art.’’
Artists, of course,
figure prominently in guestbook; Dali, Matisse and Picasso were regulars;
Chagall and Cocteau loved the hotel. Show biz types have long treated the
Negresco as their base on the Cote d’Azur: Alain Delon, Cary Grant, Lauren
Bacall, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Elton John, Edith Piaf, Charles
Aznavour...the list goes on and on. Ava Gardener and Ernest Hemingway have been
guests, as have Jacques Chirac, Winston Churchill, countless Royals and heads
of state.
Stories of the Negresco’s rich and famous
clientele—and their hijinks—could easily fill a book.Indeed, the hotel has always indulged quirky behaviour.
Prince Turki,
brother of the King of Saudi Arabia, arrived with a 50-person entourage, 1,000
pieces of luggage, and his own furniture...all of it packed in a moving van.
There were 15 cases for the Prince’s shoes alone. The local fire brigade was
called to clear the entrance hall, so the Princely possessions could make it
through the lobby.
Once during a power outage, the pianist Arthur
Rubinstein refused to climb the four floors to his room. He asked for two
pillows, a blanket, an 8 am wake-up call with breakfast and Champagne...and
then settled in for the night in the Salon Louis XIV.
Anthony Quinn arrived with 20 suitcases containing 100
of his wife’s evening gowns...and an unusual request. He wanted a white
Cadillac--with chauffeur--and a bicycle. He used the bike throughout his stay
in Nice, disappearing each morning into traffic...followed by his wife in the
Cadillac. Quinn stayed at the hotel three months while shooting A Star for Two with Lauren Bacall.
It was around 1970 when Richard Burton, in love and
rather distracted, was chatting to the barman and showing him the fabulous
emerald necklace and earrings he planned to give his wife Liz Taylor, when she
called down and asked her husband to come up to the room. A half an hour later,
the barman discovered the jewels on a bar stool, where Burton had forgotten
them.
Michael Jackson came to stay in 1988, bringing his own
chef. After having transformed one of
the rooms into a kitchen, he installed a dance floor in another room so that he
could rehearse. In order to leave the hotel unnoticed, he disguised himself “as
a hippie, an English gentleman, a delivery boy and a prostitute.’’
Once, a passing student stopped to admire a magnificent
Hispano Suiza parked in front of the hotel and allegedly said, “You have to be
a King to own such a car!’’ Rudolf
Valentino tapped him on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to be King?
Then get in, my chauffeur will drive you wherever you want. You’ll be a King
for a day.’’
And then there was the rock band that stole one of
Madame Augier’s favourite paintings, a present from her parents on her 21st
birthday. I can’t say who the band was or how the heist was found out, but the
band was apprehended at the airport and the painting was returned in perfect
condition.
Late this summer, the Negresco threw itself an
enormous birthday party, with Madame Augier playing elegant host to 500 guests,
friends and local dignitaries. Other celebrations and promotions were being
staged throughout the year, but the most joyous gift of all came in March 2012,
when the folks at the Michelin Guide called to say they’d be giving the Negresco’s
restaurant Chanteclerits
coveted second star back after bumping them down to one star in the Guide Rouge eight years ago. (The
hotel’s first two-star review had originally been earned back in 1980 by the
wildly talented but notoriously eccentric Jacques Maximin, chef at Negresco
from 1978 to 1988. (Maximin now has the Bistrot de la Marine in
Cros de Cagnes, ten minutes from the Nice Airport.)
Credit for the
second Michelin star goes to Negresco chef Jean-Denis Rieubland, who joined the
hotel in 2007 and immediately set out to win it back. Born in Agen, France,
Rieubland trained at the Lycée Hôtelier in Nice, then went on to
work at top hotels and restaurants such as The Carlton (Cannes), La Tour
d’Argent (Paris), and the Four Seasons Resort Provence at Terre Blanche (no
longer a Four Seasons, it’s now called just Terre Blanche). Rieubland earned his Meilleur Ouvrier de France (‘’Best Craftsmen in France’’) title in
2007.
Among Rieubland’s many contributions to the Negresco is
the farm-to-table system he set up, turning his family’s own farm--about
35 minutes from the hotel—into his private potager.
Rieubland works closely with his father,
Jean François, to select the varieties they’ll grow each season, on
17 hectares of terraced, hilltop beds. Jean François drives the produce down to the Negresco twice a week
and Rieubland says that cooking with just-picked ingredients grown to his exact
specs is “one of the greatest luxuries of all.’’
Hearty kudos also goes out to restaurant manager Olivier
Novelli, who was hired to run the Chantecler dining room in late 2009. Before
that, he’d worked at Château de la Chevre d’Or (Eze), Le Mas Candille (Mougins), and with Rieubland at the Miramar Beach Hotel. Novelli
earned his own Meilleur Ouvrier de France
title in 2011, one of just four candidates (out of 59) to attain the impressive
distinction that year.
The Chantecler is now Michelin's highest rated restaurant in
Nice. (A list of all the starred restaurants in the Alpes Maritimes region
appears here.)
In honor of the 100th
anniversary, the Negresco completed a €10 million, 18-month renovation in June
2011. Among the upgrades were an entire kitchen re-do and a transformation of the
restaurant La
Rotonde, which now has a lovely terrace facing the sea. The façade was also
restored and 30 guestrooms were redone.
If you’ve never experienced Negresco, there are a few
nice ways to do it even if you can’t spend the night. You can dine at Chantecler of
course, or the more-casual, family friendly La Rotonde, which serves brasserie
fare all day. (They’re currently offering an 18€
plat du jour at lunch; a 22€ lunch special
including main course, little desserts and coffee; and a full à la carte menu.)
Live music continues in the Le
Relais bar, every night from 7:30 onwards. Jazz Night is the
first Thursday of the month, at 9 pm.
A small but worthwhile exhibit covering the Negresco’s
colourful 100-year history remains on view in the Salon Royal, free and open to
the public, from 3 pm to 6 pm daily, until January 5.
Meanwhile, the centenary celebration runs through June
2013 with a series of events this spring ‘’highlighting French creativity.’’
According to the
Negresco’s director, the charming Pierre Bord: ‘’There are few hotels
on the Cote d’Azur—few hotels anywhere—that have seen what the Negresco
has….and lived to tell about it! While independent hotels up and down the coast
continue to be acquired or replaced by chains, Negresco remains steadfastly
independent and highly personal. And after an amazing 100 years, the hotel’s
original personality remains intact:
formal but friendly, rich in history and ready to party! There are
always surprises here…you never know what will happen. And now that this Grand
Dame has had her face lift, she’s as glittering and sparkling as ever. Here’s
to the next century!’’
For info, rates and reservations at the Negresco, click here.
Photos: 1. The Negresco has been likened to a giant wedding cake. 2. Executive chef Jean-Denis Rieubland loves to tromp around his father's farm, where produce is grown to the chef's exact specs. 3. Madame Augier's cat Carmen is a fixture in the Relais Bar. 4, 5. The dining room and a typically lovely presentation in the restaurant Chantecler. 7. You know who, on the beach at Negresco, June 30, 1965. 8. Image once used on luggage tags and posters. 9. The 100th Anniversary Birthday cake, made by pastry chef Fabien Cocheteux. 10. Seen from the sea. 11. Bienvenue a Negresco!
