History

To show off this industrial and economic expansion, Stockholm organized Scandinavia's first exhibition of industry and art in 1866. The exhibition proved a success. Foreign newspapers published reports about a remarkable little city in the north. This proved of great significance to Stockholm, and it did not take long before even more foreign visitors found their way here. The issue of the increasing need for hotel rooms had now become the subject of serious discussions in Stockholm. Cadier was asked to come up with a solution. It was clear that a major new hotel was needed, but the question was whether it would be possible to find a suitable central location for it. Another matter, of course, was how to finance it. The consortium first looked for a site in the vicinity of Kungsträdgården, but soon turned their attention toward the harbor. Cadier had discovered three interesting properties on the southern side of Blasieholmen.

After studying the Parisian hotels closely, Cadier knew what was required to make a large hotel profitable. The size of the hotel and the number of guest rooms were the crucial factors. It was also necessary to find a skilled and experienced architect. Cadier chose Axel Kumlien. The first official plans to be filed with the planning authorities are dated February 1872. They were approved by the Board of Public Building and Fritz von Dardel, whose journal from February 12, 1872 contains an interesting entry:
"I too examined the plans for a large hotel, which Cadier intends to build on Blasieholmen. There will be more than 200 guest rooms. The façade is designed in the style of the French Renaissance. If the building is completed, Cadier intends to apply for permission to build a bridge straight across the harbor, by which means tourists from the Continent will be able to walk straight from the steamboats to the hotel".

Work on building the Grand Hôtel began in March 1872. It would appear that the roof was completed before the end of the year but work on the interiors continued throughout 1873. One of the most enduring myths about how Cadier managed to finance a building project of this magnitude is that every day he filled a wheelbarrow with silver coins at the Hôtel Rydberg, which he then pushed all the way to Blasieholmen to pay his hard-working builders. The story is apocryphal, but it makes a good anecdote. There are today no accounts or other documents which show how Cadier arranged the financing, but it seems clear that he was personally liable for all loans until 1885, when he formed a joint-stock company and brought in two partners. What is clear, however, is that during the first eleven years Cadier borrowed money to finance the project and bore the full risk himself. A big risk, one might think, but in view of the great interest shown in the project by the city's authorities and the Swedish Government, it may be assumed that he had some sort of guarantees in case something went gone wrong.

In spring 1874 the interiors were nearly finished, and the first guests would appear to have checked in at the hotel in early spring. It was at that time that the name of the new hotel was made public: the Grand Hôtel.