Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Shangri-La Paris came into being in 1891, when Prince Roland Bonaparte, Napoleon I's grandson and passionate about botany and geography, acquired land in Chaillot to build a box for his collections. The architect Ernest Janty, a student of Hector Lefuel, erected between 1892 and 1895 a sumptuous Louis XIV-style mansion, financed by the inheritance of the prince's wife, Marie-Félix Blanc, daughter of the founder of the Monte Carlo casino. The building, organized around a central courtyard, houses a large library and grass beds, reflecting the prince's scientific interests.

Prince Roland Bonaparte died in the hotel in 1924, leaving behind him a collection of 150,000 rare works, including books by Napoleon I and Princess Mathilde. In 1925, her daughter, Princess Marie Bonaparte, sold the building to the Suez Canal Company, which began major transformations in 1929 under the direction of Michel Roux-Spitz. The library, too large to be moved, remained there until 1942 before being transferred to the Society of Geography and the National Library.

Purchased by the State in 1945 to install the National Office for Foreign Trade, the hotel was finally sold in 2005 to the Shangri-La group for €92 million. An ambitious restoration, led by Richard Martinet and Pierre-Yves Rochon, gives the place its original delight while adapting to luxurious hotel use. Inaugurated in 2010 and distinguished "palace" in 2014, the establishment now combines historical heritage with high-end services, with 100 rooms and suites, a 17-metre spa, and rooms classified as Historic Monuments since 2009.

The architecture of the Shangri-La Paris bears the traces of its metamorphoses: the facade on avenue d'Iéna, initially surmounted by attic attices, is simplified in 1929 by straight walls and levels in steps, while the communes of rue Fresnel, formerly dedicated to the library, are partially converted into parking under a glass roof. The interiors, however, retain original elements, such as the honorary staircase, the axial galleries, or the prince's living room on the second floor, protected by the inscription to the Historical Monuments.

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