Weggis Park
The Park Weggis , formerly Park-Hotel Bellevue and later Park Hotel Weggis , was a five-star hotel on the shores of Lake Lucerne and at the foot of the Rigi . The buildings are located in a park and beach complex on the southwestern edge of the village of Weggis . The main building dates back to a building from 1875, which was then opened as the Hotel Bellevue and which was fundamentally renovated in 1912 in the Belle Époque style. The hotel was sold and closed in 2017. The buildings have been converted into a wellness clinic since January 2019.
history
founding
In the 1870s, Wilhelm Strässli acquired the Bächelen farm in Weggis and built the Hotel Bellevue on it , which opened in 1875. It consisted of a main house and a dépendance. In the beginning it had around 50 beds, and almost all rooms had a lake view. The hotel was one of the first of this size on the site and was at the beginning of a coming heyday of tourism on Lake Lucerne. The bank region at the foot of the Rigi was thus discovered as a center of attraction - steam navigation on Lake Lucerne had already been used extensively for tourism from the 1870s, and the number of travelers to the Rigi had also increased steadily since the first half of the 19th century. The mild climate in Weggis gradually became known and the place itself went down in tourism brochures as “Nice on Lake Lucerne”. In 1899 the Hotel Bellevue increased the number of beds and rebuilt the dépendance, the new oriel turrets, the carved balcony railings and the white paint gave it the name "Schlössli", which it still bears today.
The renovation by architects Möri and Krebs from 1912
Between 1893 and 1910 the annual number of overnight stays in Weggis quadrupled, so that the owner of the Parkhotel Bellevue, Alois Egli (he acquired the hotel in 1907), wanted to expand significantly. Architects Alfred Möri and Karl-Friedrich Krebs carried out the radical renovation, which amounted to a new building. They had already renovated the Hotel Montana in Lucerne in 1908 and thus attracted attention.
Möri and Krebs also received recognition for the renovation of the Parkhotel Bellevue in 1912. The architecture and art magazine “ Das Werk ” not only praised the new floor plan, but also the structure and color of the facade and the entire interior. During the renovation, the architects made sure to include local rural elements, so that the building was assigned to the architecture of the homeland style . The rooms and lounges face the lake and the sunny side. The hotel was also increased by one floor and the number of beds increased from 70 to 160 beds. The hotel thus experienced an increased importance, which was met architecturally with the creation of social rooms. The terrace facing the lake was redesigned and provided with columns and arbors.
The First World War between 1914 and 1918 brought a serious turning point and tourism collapsed. After a temporary recovery, however, the Great Depression of 1929 and the Second World War (1939-1945) made this situation worse . Only then did a slow recovery occur. The Hertenstein peninsula, at the entrance to which the Parkhotel Bellevue is located, was the scene of a formative political event for Europe in 1946: 14 European heads of state met to discuss the possibility of a European federation. They wrote the “ Hertensteiner Program ” for the establishment of the “European Union” and thus laid the foundation for today's EU . In the course of this gathering, the Parkhotel Bellevue also gained new fame, as it was home to personalities from European politics such as Luigi Einaudi and Alcide De Gasperi , both heads of state of Italy at different times .
The renovation between 1998 and 2007
The descendants of Alois Egli, who initiated the major renovation in 1912, managed the fate of the hotel until the fourth generation. It was rebuilt several times, adapted to new standards and renovated until the family sold it in 1997 to Aldopark AG, which is backed by the family of the Swiss Martin Denz, a shipping company in Greece. Aldopark AG envisaged a completely different concept for the hotel: within a total of around ten years, the Schlössli wing with the suites and the main building were gutted and rebuilt or rebuilt, while maintaining the historical appearance. In 2007 the hotel was reopened under the name Park Hotel Weggis , and in 2012 it was renamed Park Weggis again .
Sale 2017
The hotel was sold in 2017 to Dogus Helath & Wellness AG , which is Turkish owned and based in Lucerne. It will first be rebuilt and renovated and then reopened as a wellness clinic under the new name CHENOT Palace Weggis . The first renovation work started in January 2019.
Awards and specials
- In 2016, the “La Brasserie” restaurant at Park Weggis was awarded the “Best of Awards of Excellence” by Wine Spectator.
- In 2014 Park Weggis received the Level *** award from “The World of Fine Wine” magazine.
- In 2006 the Brazilian national soccer team prepared for the World Cup in Germany in Weggis and resided in the Park Hotel Weggis.
- In 2001 the Park Hotel Weggis was voted “Hotel of the Year” by Gault-Millau . It was only the fifth hotel to receive this award.
literature
- Carolina Morgan-Grap: Park Weggis. Hotel history since 1875 . Weggis 2013.
Web links
- Website of the former hotel , archive version from April 15, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ New owner is planning to expand the Park Hotel In: Luzerner Zeitung , July 12, 2017
- ^ Hotel website , archive version from January 10, 2018
- ^ Wine Spectator. 2016, accessed on October 15, 2016 .
- ^ Park Weggis. The World of Fine Wine, 2014, accessed October 15, 2016 .
- ↑ Ronaldinho in the Rachmaninov Suite. NZZ, April 29, 2006, accessed October 15, 2016 .
- ↑ World cuisine. Balance sheet, December 31, 2001, accessed October 15, 2016 .