Page 12 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 3

scheme by the architect Théophile van Muyden to raise the roof Critics soon lined up to bemoan the spread of mass tourism,
of the original building (1896), the board decided to aim for with its proliferation of hotels, invasive, arrogant tourists and their
something more ambitious, and finally commissioned Eugène Jost, sycophantic and/or wily hosts, as caricatured by Hieronymus
Louis Bezencenet and Maurice Schnell to undertake the work. Hess, for example. As early as 1834, the writer Rodolphe Töpffer
It is worth examining the background to this grand building anticipated the stalemate in tourism, summing up the paradox of
scheme, as it highlights a number of different issues surrounding ‘discovering’ an unspoilt spot in these terms: ‘Whoever […] is the
the construction of a hotel (the how, why, where and for whom?) first to arrive in an unknown valley [discovers a thousand features]
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and how they can be resolved. A formal study of the building which are spoilt upon being seen, and lost upon being admired.’
itself also gives us an insight into the cultural background of its The caustic Alphonse Daudet lambasted the herd mentality of
architecture. Although ‘Beaux Arts’ style is all too often associated travellers and the horrors of package tourism in Tartarin on the Alps:
with operetta, the Beaux Arts language employed for the Palace ‘For a moment he gazed at the hotel [Rigi-Kulm] and its dependencies,
has a semantic richness closer to Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk than a surprised to find, at six thousand feet above the level of the sea, a building
mere sketch played out in a spa hotel. of such a size, with its glazed galleries, its colonnades, its seven ranges of
Eléonore Rinaldi, Catherine Schmutz and Fabienne windows, and the wide flight of steps between two rows of lamps which
Hoffmann review different aspects of the Palace building project, gave to the top of the mountain something of the appearance of the Place
from the main construction to the finer elements of applied de l’Opéra in a wintry twilight. […] The glare of the lights, the heat of
and decorative arts. In each case, the writers demonstrate the the gas and of the stoves, contrasting with the black cold night outside, the
importance of working relationships, networks, and teamwork, sumptuous appearance of the hotel, the lofty vestibule, the richly-laced
whether between the architects and their sub-contractors or the porters with “regina montium” in gold letters on their caps, the white
workers themselves, and how these informed the choices made ties of the maîtres d’hôtel, and the battalion of Swiss female servants in
at every level. their national costumes, who came running up at the sound of the gong –
In the 1950s especially, the hotel acquired a number of antique all this impressed him for a second, not for more than one.’
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tapestries depicting romantic, rustic and epic subjects, and there is Remembering her childhood in Montreux and the walks she
an article by Nicole de Reyniès devoted to these tapestries. Their took with her family along the quay, Alice Rivaz wrote that ‘hotels
purpose is not solely decorative: they confer an aura of nobility and sprang up everywhere along our way and even the houses which
belong to the lexicon of symbols and significance that underscore weren’t hotels had ended up looking like them’. The alienating
the similarities between a luxury hotel and a palace. effects of the tourism industry are evident: ‘Because welcoming
The ensemble of the Beau-Rivage Palace’s two buildings foreigners, accommodating them and feeding them every day of the year
and their sharply contrasting styles became the hotel’s trademark was hard work, and many local people were kept busy from morning to
image, a logo used to advertise the hotel on everything from night serving them, opening and closing doors for them, and making sure
letterheads to menus (fig. 3). Publicity value was key for these everything they might enjoy was within their grasp, or sight. They also had
early illustrations, even if it meant exaggerating certain features to be transported by boat or railway, and taken to see whatever spectacular
to emphasise the hotel’s imposing architecture, or distorting views might please them. It was because of them that so many of the
the perspective. In time these lithographs were replaced by region’s women were devoted to laundering clothes and ironing luxury
promotional fliers, postcards and photographs, and eventually, in lingerie. All of those spotlessly clean benches along the public promenades
the 1920s, illustrated brochures. and quays were there so that they could sit down whenever they wanted.

Architecture as brand image. Manager Ernest Schaerer’s Fig. 4
headed notepaper, 1957. A landing on the main staircase of the Beau-Rivage
during the 1997-2000 refurbishment.

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