Le Meurice

[4] In the mid-18th century, the French postmaster, Charles-Augustin Meurice (born 1738), understood that English tourists wanted to be on the continent with the comforts and conveniences they were used to at home.

[2] A wealthy clientele followed, and during the July Monarchy to the French Third Republic, Le Meurice welcomed the high society of the time, who appreciated the quality of service, the refinement of the rooms and lounges, as well as the exceptional location of the hotel in the heart of Paris, near luxury boutiques.

[3] In the early 20th century, one of the shareholders of the new company was Arthur Millon, owner of Café de la Paix and restaurants Weber and Ledoyen.

Then, with the exception of the façade, the hotel was rebuilt under the guidance of the architect Henri Paul Nénot, winner of the Grand Prix de Rome.

Other additions included the grand salon Pompadour with white trimmings, a restaurant with marble pilasters and gilded bronzes as a living tribute to the Peace of Versailles, and the wrought iron canopy over the lobby.

[17] The renovations also included a campaign led by Jean-Loup Roubert and the architect Nicolas Papamiltiades, which changed certain areas of the building for technical reasons, with the creation of an underground infrastructure for heating and cooling, and for aesthetic purposes.

[26] Following him, the Prince of Wales, the kings of Italy, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria, Denmark, Montenegro, the Shah of Persia, and the Bey of Tunis stayed at the Meurice.

[citation needed] The Duke and Duchess of Windsor stayed at Le Meurice on their return from honeymoon in September 1937, and where they announced their intention to tour Nazi Germany later the same year.

[29][30] Others included the Wright Brothers, Giorgio de Chirico, Rudyard Kipling, Edmond Rostand, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Paul Morand, Walter Lippmann, Yehudi Menuhin, Seiji Ozawa, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Plácido Domingo.

Past guests also include film stars and directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Liza Minnelli, Fernandel, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, Ginger Rogers, Yul Brynner, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

[31] In December 2006, the President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, after surgery at the military hospital of Val de Grace, continued his recovery at the Meurice.

[citation needed] In 2011, Jay-Z and Kanye West recorded their hit "Niggas in Paris" at Hôtel Meurice for the Watch The Throne album.

(1966, René Clément), Julia (1977, Fred Zinnemann), The Blood of Others (1984, Claude Chabrol), Mata Hari (1985, Curtis Harrington), Angel-A (2006, Luc Besson), Notre univers impitoyable (2007, Léa Fazer), Les Femmes de l'ombre (2008, Jean-Paul Salomé), Demain dès l'aube (Denis Dercourt) and La folle histoire d’amour de Simon Eskenazy (Jean-Jacques Zilbermann) in 2009, Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen) and W.E (Madonna) in 2010[32] and Diplomacy in 2014.

Hotel lobby
Salvador Dalí , pictured at the Hôtel Meurice, spent about a month of each year over 30 years in the old Royal Suite Alphonse XIII.