Grand Hotel National

In terms of its fabric and architecture, the hotel has been designated a cultural monument of national importance, with a Category A heritage protection listing.

It was only with the advent of tourism midway through that century that the local council approved measures with the intention of exploiting the potential of the town's setting and scenery.

The stipulations of the local authority were clear: a hotel palace had to be erected by 1870 capable of boosting Lucerne's standing in the burgeoning competition between tourist resorts.

The dimensions of the project under consideration went beyond anything built to date: 84 metres in length and 27 metres high, i.e. half of today's volume Following two years or so of construction work, the Hôtel National was completed in time for the start of the 1870 season – only to be thwarted in its hopes for a glittering opening season by the looming Franco-Prussian War: foreign tourism collapsed.

It was only after the war ended shortly before the 1871 summer season that the hotel was able to commence operations in earnest under its first director, Max Alphons Pfyffer.

Tourism in the meantime had been put on a more professional footing, tourist boards were being established and international networks forged: at the time, Lucerne was still regarded purely as a summer destination, and the clientele travelled further south for the winter.

This signalled the start of a series of expansions and refurbishments: a large annexe, the Nationalhof, was conceived as a heated winter house, which, for the first time, allowed the hotel to remain open all year round.

On 22 August 1920 the hotel played host to a historic event: the Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti and his British counterpart David Lloyd George met here to implement the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

The early 1970s found the former palace in dire economic straits, with rumours circulating the town suggesting that the hotel might make way for a shopping mall.

He acquired the shares of the Grand Hotel National AG and presented a multiple use concept for the complex: shops and restaurants would be open to the public, there would be less emphasis on hospitality, and some of the premises would be let as office space.