The building and its rooms
In late spring 1874 Régis Cadier's lifetime achievement, the Grand Hôtel, was finished. It had taken many years of planning and almost two years of building to complete the project. An article in Aftonbladet from October 9, 1872 entitled "The New Hotel on Blasieholmen" describes the building work:
"Work on the construction of this first-class hotel, which commenced in early spring, has proceeded with such rapidity that the topmost floor is already being built, and there is every chance that the building will be under roof by the end of fall. This swiftness is all the more remarkable in that the laying of the foundation required the removal of a large area of bedrock".
The decoration of the interiors took about a year to complete. There were many minor problems that had to be solved before the first guests could move in. A huge amount of furniture had to be acquired, a lot of which was commissioned from local firms in Stockholm. In spring 1874 the interiors were nearly finished. An amenity that Cadier placed great store on, particularly for guests from distant countries, was a convenient telegraph service.
On Sunday June 14, 1874 the King of Sweden, Oscar II, arrived at the hotel along with three of his sons. Stockholms Dagblad described the event two days later:
"On Sunday the King and the Crown Prince as well as the Dukes of Gotland and Vestergötland visited the Grand Hôtel. For two hours the King inspected the building, surveyed the finest rooms and inquired about all the issues relating to this model hotel, whose construction and arrangement reflects great honor on Mr Cadier. Before the King departed, the large flag at the front of the hotel was hoisted, and the Grand Hôtel can now be considered opened".
One by one, the guest rooms filled up. Stockholm had acquired a new first-class attraction, a new landmark, of distinction. It is hard to say exactly what the guests saw when they entered the building, since there are no photographs that show what the original decorations looked like. There are, however, a number of newspaper articles that describe the hotel's interior. One was published in Nordstjernan, a newspaper published primarily in the United States:
"This magnificent hotel contains 314 rooms, of which 250 are intended for travelers. Out of these latter, about one hundred, as well as a large number of drawing-rooms, are located in such a way that they offer the most stunning view over the areas of the capital that lie in front of the hotel. The price of these rooms will range from four to seven and a half kronor per day, while the other rooms, which do not offer a view, will be priced at between one and a half and three kronor per day. The hotel also contains plenty of other facilities. The basement consists of a café with billiard tables, a telegraph office, which will be made available to the public as well as the hotel's guests, bathrooms, a barber's and hairdressing salon and several other amenities for the comfort of travelers. The hotel's kitchen is also located here".
"The first floor contains guest rooms as well as banqueting rooms, including a very elegant dining room and a number of reading and smoking rooms. The other floors are occupied by guest rooms. All rooms, including those facing the courtyard, are light, spacious and comfortable, mostly very elegant and always well furnished. In other respects, everything that may add to the comfort of the guests has been arranged with great care".
The original main entrance of the Grand Hôtel was inside the building. The guests would normally arrive by horse and carriage on a driveway that went straight through the hotel. They were thus protected from wind and rain, as well as from over-curious onlookers. Two large flights of stairs connected the lower entrance hall to the lobby upstairs.
An 1874 copy of Svenska Familjejournalen gives a vivid portrait of what greeted guests as they arrived in the upper lobby:
"The lobby is splendid. It has an English porcelain floor, middle windows of polished glass with striking clocks, pilasters of black yellow-veined marble, green-veined marble pedestals, supporting gas candelabra in the form of female bronze figures and a double marble staircase leading to the upper floor with a highly ornate cast-iron banister, mahogany rails and richly decorated walls and ceiling. The large two-story dining room at the southern end of the first floor, which has 25-foot ceilings, stands out in terms of richness and taste. The dining room in the Paris Grand Hôtel may be bigger, but in terms of style this one is in no way inferior. The room can easily seat 250 diners. Next to the dining room is a winter garden".
Although Cadier was always generous and friendly to his staff, he also insisted on a strict discipline. He ran his hotels with military precision. Every member of staff knew exactly what was required of him or her. Each year Cadier arranged a special New Year's Party at the Grand Hôtel for his many employees, a party with a guest list of "significantly above two hundred people, including several foreign families. An abundance of presents were distributed to all those present, and the exquisite supper was consumed in an uncommonly animated atmosphere. When the punsch arrived there was an endless succession of speeches, toasts and tributes".
In 1884, ten years after being built, the hotel was in need of renovation and a new rendering. To solve the problem, Cadier turned his business into a joint-stock company and managed to raise enough money to be able to modernize large parts of the hotel. The façade, in particular, was in need of face-lift. The new rendering had a lighter, more appealing hue.
In 1889 Régis Cadier bought the property next to the Grand Hôtel, Bolinderska Palatset (Bolinder Palace), and incorporated it into the hotel. He also decided to live in the building himself, and choose the 13-room flat previously inhabited by a wealthy Swedish liquor baron, L.O. Smith. The purchase of Bolinderska Palatset significantly expanded Cadier's business, but only a year later Régis Cadier died after a short illness. Caroline, Cadier's wife, and their son "Lulu" took over responsibility for running the hotel.
Toward the end of the 1890s it was becoming clear that nobody from the Cadier family would be taking over the Grand Hôtel. Since the hotel was in need of a comprehensive modernization, Caroline Cadier decided to sell the entire hotel business.
The sale took place in 1897. The Grand Hôtel was sold to a consortium of buyers, including the banker Axel Burman, for 2,675,000 kronor. Nils Trulsson, who had a long experience of working at hotels in the major European capitals, was appointed new president of the hotel.
The redevelopment of the Grand Hôtel began in September 1898. The work was extensive. A new façade was created, and turrets and towers were added to the building. The work was completed in November 1899, and on Tuesday November 28 a large opening dinner was held. The guest list consisted mostly of journalists but there were also a number of representatives from distinguished hotel establishments in the countryside. They were treated to the following sumptuous opening-day menu:
Hors d'oeuvres
Crème de topinambour (soup)
Suprème de turbot à la Joinville (turbot)
Jambon d'York au madère (ham in Madeira sauce)
Poularde de Bresse à la Albufere (spring chicken)
Parfait de foie rose (cream liver parfait)
Cailles de Vigne rôties (roast quail)
Salade Jockey Club (salad)
Pouding diplomate
Gimblettes au parmesan (Parmesan cheese)
Desserts
Spegelsalen, the "Hall of Mirrors", was one of the hotel's new attractions. It was created in the space where the Grand Hôtel meets Bolinderska Palatset after a design by Ture Stenberg, who is said to have been inspired by the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles.
On April 1, 1902 Wilhelmina Skogh was appointed president of the Grand Hôtel. No sooner had she started her new job than she called in the builders again. Yet Mrs Skogh is remembered above all for her later addition to the hotel, the Grand Hôtel Royal. For many years, she had been nursing plans for a major expansion of the hotel. The Grand Hôtel Royal, which housed a magnificent suite of banqueting rooms, was built on the plot of land immediately behind the Grand Hôtel on Blasieholmen. The main attraction was a fantastic winter garden in the center of the building. The idea for this garden went back to a dazzling festivity at the Grand Hôtel in Paris that Wilhelmina had attended in her youth, where the courtyard had been turned into a mighty fortress with cannons and a beautiful garden.
Vinterträdgården, as the new winter garden was called, was a sensation to many people, but unfortunately the cost of building it had greatly exceeded the projections, and in December 1910 Wilhelmina Skogh was forced to resign. Nils Trulsson once again took up the reins at the hotel. He described his plans in an interview made in Berlin in January 1911:
"At the Grand Hôtel Royal I intend to introduce a novelty which I hope will appeal to the Stockholmers. Instead of serving lunch, which will henceforth be served primarily at the Grand, I intend to use the dining room and café of the Royal for something similar to Kaiserhof's five o'clock tea, the only difference being that because of the earlier eating habits in this country, it will be served between half past two and five, rather than between five and seven. In other respects, it will not be like an ordinary five o'clock tea, where the guests remain in the same place. Instead, the dining room and café will form a sort of corridor where, to the tunes of gentle music, the guests will be able to purchase refreshments, mingle and converse with each other during those hours in the middle of the day when they are free to do so. Until now, there has not been a rendezvous of this kind in Stockholm, but this will now be change. Apart from that, supper will of course be served both at the Grand and the Royal, as before".
The First World War ended and, despite the years of crisis that followed, the good times returned to the Grand Hôtel. Across war-torn Europe there was a widely felt desire to travel and move around freely again. Scores of American tourists also crossed the Atlantic to Europe, and soon found their way to Sweden. Yet in spite of this new influx of travelers, the Grand Hôtel's directors were having doubts about the hotel business, which, it was thought, would no longer remain the most profitable part of the business. A few influential members on the Board started to promote the idea of turning the hotel into a modern office building, but there were also others who objected to the project, which, though undoubtedly more advantageous from an economic perspective, would in their view be a great loss to the capital and the country.
In 1924 Torsten Segerstråle took over as manager of the hotel and immediately started to make plans for a comprehensive modernization of the building. The most important changes were a new exterior and the creation of several new guest rooms. Spegelsalen was restored but not altered. It had already come to be regarded as a piece of the country's cultural heritage. When the scaffolding was removed in 1926, the hotel had been completely modernized.
During the last years of the 1920s tourists started to return to Stockholm in greater numbers. More and more cruise ships, carrying plenty of well-heeled Americans, found their way here. The Americans were very keen on seeing Europe, and when they came to Stockholm they naturally wanted to visit and, if possible, stay at the Grand Hôtel.
In the 1930s American culture was gaining ground in Europe, not least in Sweden. Jazz rapidly established itself as the younger generation's favorite style of music for dancing and entertainment. The Grand Royal's restaurant was almost always fully booked, and the dance floor filled up when bands like the Jack Harris Orchestra, von Eichwald's orchestra and Thore Ehrling's orchestra were playing. White or black tie was de rigueur.
The verandas - the second was built in 1913 - were redesigned by Professor Ivar Tengbom in 1926. They rapidly established themselves as the number one summertime meeting-place for Stockholm's beau monde. An article in Aftonbladet gives the following description: "The verandas are a true experience, especially 'La Terrasse des Pauvres', the 'Paupers' Veranda', as it is called. I recorded the names of so many celebrities on the back of my menu that I eventually ran out of space, but then again the lunch only costs 1.75".
The new war that broke out in 1939 of course created a lot of problems for the hotel. Paul Meier and Emil Janson took over as managers and skillfully bided their time.
The post-war years were an excellent period for the Grand Hôtel. The borders were opened again and the number of travelers was greater than ever before. In the early 1950s the shortage of rooms, especially of rooms with en-suite bathrooms, started to become a problem. It was decided that two new floors should be built as soon as possible. The interiors of the rooms on the new fifth and sixth floors were designed in 1951-52 by Carl-Axel Acking, an interior decorator who was much in vogue at the time, together with Astrid Sampe and Svenskt Tenn. The style, which was called "Swedish Modern", received superlative reviews in the papers.
The resources of the Grand Hôtel had been greatly expanded. The hotel could now accommodate 375 guests, not counting any extra beds, and more than 200 rooms had been provided with private bathrooms. New elevators had been installed. Modern linen closets, ironing facilities, workshops and staff changing rooms had been built, and on the outside the building now had beautiful light-colored walls and a copper roof.
In the mid-1950s the Grand Hôtel had about 600 people on its payrolls. To still the hunger of all its guests, the hotel needed four large kitchens and three small auxiliary kitchens. Each day the kitchen staff used up 800 kilograms of meat, 200 chickens, half a tonne of potatoes and two truckloads of vegetables. The hotel had its own power station and carpenter's workshop, its own painters, upholsterers and florists, and its own laundry, where 24 launderers were constantly washing, mangling and ironing sheets and clothes. There was even a large confectioner's shop, which was run by a German.
Since a long time rooms no. 317, 318 and 319 had been reserved for royalty, presidents, heads of state, famous actors and other distinguished guests. By 1965 these rooms were starting to look slightly antiquated and were in need of modernization. The task was assigned to Sigvard Bernadotte and his colleague Veit Bethke, who created a suite that was named after its creator: the Bernadotte Suite. The reviews were encouraging, to say the least. Svenska Dagbladet commented:
"Without resorting to superlatives one can say that in its sure sense of style and restrained nobility this interior may fairly be called a model for the future. I think it would be hard to find an equivalent to these blond and mild blue interiors, the almost white maple paneling and the gilded accessories".
On January 1, 1968 Carlton Hotel took over the Grand Hôtel. When the news broke it caused a minor sensation, and considerable alarm. How could little Carlton with its 140 rooms take over the flagship hotel of northern Europe? What few people did not know was that Marcus Wallenberg was involved behind the scenes. When this became known the industry calmed down.
Friday June 14, 1974 was the 100th anniversary of the Grand Hôtel. The jubilee was marked by the opening of two new permanent summer verandas by Prince Bertil, who was attended by Dr Marcus Wallenberg. The verandas were a much-needed addition. Like their predecessors, they were located on either side of the main entrance. The restaurant veranda became a natural extension of Franska Matsalen, the "French Dining Room", while the "Paupers' Veranda" was converted into a bar area. The main entrance was also redesigned. The old swinging doors were removed and replaced by a large baldachin to ensure that the guests could enter the hotel without getting wet.
In the mid-1970s the Grand had 347 rooms and could accommodate 526 guests at any one time. In addition to the single and double rooms there were eleven suites, which were practically always booked. The most expensive and also most popular of these was the Bernadotte Suite. At this time, the Grand was primarily a hotel for businessmen, diplomats and other government or industry representatives. Since the Grand was taken over by the Wallenberg Group corporate entertainment had grown rapidly as a source of revenue. Dr Wallenberg had close contacts with many people in the Swedish business community, and it was therefore natural that they should congregate at the Grand Hôtel.
The harsh, political seventies turned into the carefree, money-loving eighties. The Grand noticed the change very early, and adapted itself to the new spirit. Turnover rose for each new year and the restaurants, verandas and winter garden were used to capacity. Previously, occupancy levels had been high only during the weeks; in the weekends it had been almost desolate. The solution to this was package prices. When the businessmen flew back home the private guests checked in at reduced rates.
In the mid-1980s there was a clear trend toward exclusivity. To stay in tune with this new spirit, the Grand Hôtel decided to try and restore the hotel's former glory. The hotel contacted Bob Merchant, a widely acclaimed hotel decorator from Los Angeles and commissioned him to redesign the hotel's kitchens and dining rooms. The idea was to bring out and enhance the "turn-of-the-century feel" of the Grand Hôtel. In June 1985 work began on the entrance and lobby, which were restored to their original splendor using the same blue and yellow color scheme as at the turn of the century. The objective was to make the lobby more attractive, rationalize the reception area and make the unique view of the harbor more visible to the guests. A section of Franska Matsalen's veranda and the hotel's lobby were detached and converted into a large and elegant bar with a grand piano and an outer seating area with groups of armchairs and a magnificent view of the harbor and Royal Palace. It was named Cadierbaren, the "Cadier Bar".
In April 1988 Princess Christina of Sweden attended the opening of the new Grand Hôtel. The hotel had undergone one of its biggest transformations ever. The staff, which that year numbered 350 people, had been instructed to live up to Régis Cadier's motto: "to always treat the customer as if he were a king". At the same time, a new service concept was introduced through the launch of the Grand Business Service Center, which provided fax, PC and secretarial services, and the Grand Hôtel Conference Center, which had 19 conference and banqueting rooms and could safely claim to be the most elegant conference center in the capital. Patrons voted with their feet: in no time, the restaurants and bar filled up, and in April 1988 Franska Matsalen was awarded a long-cherished star in the prestigious Michelin Guide Main Cities of Europe.
In the early 1990s the economy deteriorated. To see the Grand Hôtel through the downturn, Peter Wallenberg Jr was appointed new president of the hotel in 1992. He introduced a series of changes which, when the economy improved, soon bore fruit. The turning-point came in the second half of 1993 and, after two consecutive good years, it became possible to initiate another renovation project. It was at this time that the old flag loft was converted into the Flag Suite and Nobel Suite. During the refurbishment of the fifth and sixth floors the Grand Hôtel also initiated a major overhaul of its IT infrastructure. A growing demand from guests for a facility to connect laptop computers was just one of the reasons behind this major new investment.
a great start of the day
The Cadier bar's à la carte breakfast is a fantastic way to start off your day, either with a business meeting, in the company of good friends or just with your morning paper. More breakfast options.
grand love 2010
With its beautiful interior and breathtaking view over the water and the Royal Palace, Grand Hôtel is the perfect setting for romance.
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