Hotel Negresco

The Hotel Negresco is a famous hotel and site of the equally famous restaurant Le Chantecler, located on the Promenade des Anglais on the Baie des Anges in Nice, France. It was named after Henri Negresco (1868–1920), who had the palatial hotel constructed in 1912 . In keeping with the conventions of the times, when the Negresco opened in 1913 its front opened on the side opposite the Mediterranean sea.

History

Henri Negresco, born the son of an innkeeper in Bucharest, Romania, left home at the age of 15 going first to Paris then to the French Riviera where he became very successful. As director of the Municipal Casino in Nice, he had the idea to build a sumptuous hotel of quality that would attract the wealthiest of clients. After arranging the financing, he hired the great architect of the "café society" Édouard-Jean Niermans to design the hotel and its now famous pink dome. The spectacular Baccarat 16,309-crystal chandelier in the Negresco's Royal Lounge was commissioned by Czar Nicholas II, who due to the October revolution was unable to take delivery.