Suvretta House
The Suvretta House is a 5-star - Hotel in St. Moritz in the Upper Engadine in the Swiss canton of Grisons . It was built in 1912 in the style of late historicism, belongs to the Leading Hotels of the World and is in the 6th generation of the family. It offers 171 guest rooms and 10 suites .
location
The Suvretta House is located two kilometers west of St. Moritz in a natural park landscape on the southeast slope of the Piz Nair Pitschen, below the Suvretta-Corviglia winter sports and hiking area.
history
The history of the Suvretta House began at the beginning of the 20th century when the English shipbuilder GSF Edwards had the "Villa Suvretta" built for his wife by the Swiss architect Karl Koller in the Chasellas area. The wife liked the property only moderately, which is why Edwards sold it to his friend, the London parliamentarian Charles Sidney Goldman (1868-1958), who had made a large fortune by trading in diamonds. On the other hand, he liked it so much that he gradually bought 4.5 hectares of land.
It is not known how Goldman met the Swiss hotelier Anton Bon (1854–1915). Bon, the son of a sawmill owner from Bad Ragaz , had, among other things, together with his wife Maria geb. Nigg (1854-1944) previously including the Hotel Bodenhaus out in Splügen and in Vitznau the Belle Epoque built -Hotel "Park Vitznau".
Together with Sidney Goldman he also planned the construction of a Belle Epoque hotel here; Karl Koller was supposed to be the architect. On April 7, 1911, the "AG Suvretta Haus" was founded at the Zurich Bank Guyerzeller; the cost of the project was estimated at 7.5 million francs. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 22, 1911. Thanks to the work of 400 men who worked in piecework from morning to evening , the building was completed in December of the same year; the interior was created in 1912. The inauguration took place on December 16, 1912 with 200 invited guests. The hotel guests had 250 rooms, 370 beds, 110 bathrooms, rooms for bridge, billiards, smokers and tea drinkers, a library, a music room and a splendid dining room. Sir Charles Goldman was represented on the board of directors of AG Suvretta-Haus. His family remained on the board of directors under the name Commander PV Monck until the early 1970s, after which they withdrew from AG Suvretta-Haus.
The Suvretta quickly developed into a meeting place for celebrities from politics, business and the entertainment industry. The guests included the future Japanese Emperor Akihito , King Faruk of Egypt, the Shah of Persia Reza Pahlevi , the industrialist Walter Boveri , the Argentine first wife Evita Perón , the dancer Vaclav Nijinski and the actor Gregory Peck . The first Chef de Récéption was Hugo Prager, the father of Mövenpick founder Ueli Prager .
In 1915 Anton Bon died; his wife Maria took over the management of the house. In 1916 her son Hans Bon (1882–1950) was appointed as the new director.
In 1935, one of the first ski lifts in Switzerland was inaugurated at the Suvretta. It led from Suvretta to Randolins. The tape was cut by the actor Douglas Fairbanks senior , who was also the first to use the lift. This made it possible to reach the Corviglia ski area directly from the hotel. In 1963, the Suvretta House acquired additional land in order to protect downhill slopes from being built over.
During the Second World War the hotel was closed from 1941 to 1946. Subsequently, debts were paid off and remodeling and renovation work was carried out.
After Hans Bon's death in 1950, Rudolf Candrian-Bon (1910–1987), who was married to the granddaughter of the hotel's founder Lili Irene Bon (1919–2007), took over the management of the Suvretta. Four years later he took over the lease of the station buffet at Zurich main station from his father-in-law Primus Bon (1884–1974) ; Rudolf's older brother Albert Candrian followed in the Suvretta over the next 14 years, and from 1968 the couple Rudolf F. and Dorli Müller. Helen and Vic Jacob have been running the hotel since May 1, 1989, distant relatives of the Candrians. 1991 - this year the Suvretta accepted credit cards for the first time - Martin Candrian took over the chairmanship of the board of directors, a little later the Crossair founders Moritz Suter and Urs Schwarzenbach , the owners of the Dolder Grand, joined .
In 1998, Candrian Catering's Martin Candrian prevailed over the other shareholders in the family who wanted to sell the facility. He took on outside capital, including from Urs E. Schwarzenbach. With the capital, all the wings of the building were gradually gutted and numerous new rooms and suites were installed. The house now had 181 rooms and suites, with a total of 330 beds, and employed up to 300 people. The Zurich architects Tilla Theus had previously redesigned the rooms on three floors. The main kitchen was renewed and a bar built in the style of the twenties: "Anton's Bar", named after the hotel's founder, Anton Bon. The “Chesa Chavaglietta” staff house, a new bathing area and ballrooms for concerts, galas and seminars were also built. The Suvretta has several mountain restaurants and a driving range system since 1995 .
The 2011 Bilderberg Conference took place from June 9th to June 12th, 2011 at Suvretta House.
future plans
Even after numerous extensions, the Suvretta still has a land reserve of 80,000 square meters. This is to be gradually converted into a “Suvretta House hotel zone” and used for the construction of new rooms, a suite and a sports hotel.
literature
- Schweizerische Bauzeitung Volume 69 (1917), pp. 71–75, pp. 85–89 and pp. 94–98.
- Isabelle Rucki: The hotel in the Alps. The history of the Upper Engadine hotel architecture from 1860. hier + now, Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-03919-255-7 , p. 303.
- Andreas Z'Graggen: Suvretta House St. Moritz. History of the hotel. NZZ Libro, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-03823-819-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ René Lüchinger: Hotel stories from the "Suvretta" , in Weltwoche issue 40/12; P. 42 ff.
- ↑ a b Peter Jankovsky and spi (spi is not included in the NZZ list of authors' abbreviations): The Art of Continuity in the Grand Hotel / Nijinski dances again - a book publication . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 4 , January 7, 2013, p. 9 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 29 '4.7 " N , 9 ° 49' 12.5" E ; CH1903: seven hundred and eighty-two thousand eight hundred forty / 150921