PARK HOTEL VITZNAU

THE MOST FAMOUS HOTELS IN THE WORLD

AVAIL ABLE IN GE AND RMAN IN EN GLISH

PARK HOTEL VITZNAU

ANDREAS AUGUSTIN

Park Hotel Vitznau Andreas Augustin © The Most Famous Hotels in the World, 2014 Cover: Michelle Chaplow, Photography, Endpapers: Brazilian Azul Macaubas Granite, used in the Vienna Boys Choir Residence.

The author wishes to thank the team of Park Hotel Vitznau for their support, specially Urs Langenegger and Antonia Müller, but also Peter and Junia Bally, Cristina Bally, Hubert Bally, Gallus Bucher, Jörg Ch. Diehl (Museum Vitznau), Silvia Götschi, Thomas Kleber, Max Redoc, Christoph Sterchi, Jüsti Waldis and all the others who have helped to compile the material about the history of Park Hotel Vitznau.

Photography: Michelle Chaplow for famoushotels Additional photographs were used from: Beat Brechbühl, Fritz Borner (Rigi Panoramas), Hubertus Hamm, Oliver Heil.

Historical photographs were restored and are together with the entire work including its cover, and all enclosures subject to copyright laws. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Any reproduction of any part of this book without express written permission from Park Hotel Vitznau or The Most Famous Hotels in the World will be prosecuted without exception.

Head of Research and coordination of the entire project: Mag. Carola Augustin Entirely produced in Europe.

More about the book: www.famoushotels.org More about Park Hotel Vitznau: www.parkhotel-vitznau.ch ISBN 3-900692-42-4 3-900692-43-2

978-3-900692-42-1 978-3-900692-43-8

2014 2014

PARK HOTEL VITZNAU - Deutsch PARK HOTEL VITZNAU - English

Designed by Ramazotti Michelangelo

With a total area of 114 km2, the fourarmed Lake Lucerne is the second-largest inland lake in Switzerland (Lake Neuchâtel is the largest). It has a maximum depth of 241 m and a perimeter of 129 km.

Since time immemorial, pilgrimages to Rome and the Way of St James have passed over and around the lake.

Up until 1865, sea travel was the only connection to the canton of Uri, to the Gotthard Pass and thus also the only route from the cities in the north to the ports and trading cities on the Mediterranean.

Lake Lucerne is made up of many arms and bays, one of them being the Vitznau basin. The Lake Lucerne Navigation Company’s steamboats and motorboats travel all over the lake. The fleet is the largest inland fleet in Europe.

Between 1830 and 1860, English travellers discovered the touristic value of the mountainous heartland of Switzerland whilst on their way to the south. Tourism brought a whole new wave of development with it, causing the evolution of many spa towns.

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A steamship on Lake Lucerne, the far side of Vitznau.

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Vitznau at the foot of the Vitznauer Stock; to the left we see the foothills of the massive Rigi.

The first written record of the name Vitznau (‘Vitzenöwa’) dates from 1342, from a certificate in the town records of Weggis, in which the villages of Oberweggis, Niederweggis, Will and Vitznau are listed. In 1380, the city of Lucerne acquired the legal rights for Weggis and Vitznau.

This is the reason why Vitznau still belongs to the canton of Lucerne to this day instead of to the canton of Schwyz, as one might’ve supposed.

For centuries, the villagers of Vitznau were fishermen; there are 27 types of fish in the lake, including eel, pike and zander and, famously, the whitefish (coregonus).

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‘Behold the wondrous, splendid sights Here gathered for your eye’s delight!’

Karl May

Karl May – Sunrise on Mt Rigi – The first locomotive on the fragile Schnurtobelbrücke – The Grand Hotel Rigi First– Queen Victoria

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M

eeting at the Summit

The Commercialisation of the Sunrise

Experiencing the sunrise from the summit of Mt Rigi is so incomparable that it became a sensation with travellers. Mt Rigi was the mountain en vogue and Lake Lucerne was the most popular inland lake during the 19th century. Anyone who thought anything of themselves had to be able to say they’d been here. The villagers of Vitznau weren’t the only ones who built a railway here.

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Two communities went head to head in the race to conquer Mt Rigi. Vitznau to the south and Arth on the northern Schwyz side of Mt Rigi. The citizens of Arth obtained the licence for the Schwyz route to the peak, the Kulm (lat.

Culmus – peak). The Vitznau route came from the south. As with the race to the North and South Poles, both sides built their tracks at lightning speed, all the way up to the peak at 1,752 m, although the Vitznau group clearly won.

By the summer of 1870, the Rigi railway on the Lake Lucerne side was by and large complete. However, in July, war broke out between Germany and France, delaying the delivery of construction materials.

In December 1870, the first of the locomotives arrived in Lucerne and was loaded onto a ship for transport to Vitznau. However, the locomotive was too heavy, broke the hull of the ship and lay in the lake with only its chimney protruding from the water. It was raised and two new locomotives soon followed.

On 21 May 1871, the Vitznau standard gauge cogwheel railway went into operation and was hailed as an engineering wonder. The Rigi railway was the first mountain railway to use Niklaus Riggenbach’s new cogwheel system; this allowed the trains to scale the mountains effortlessly.

On the other side of the mountain, construction work wasn’t yet finished and the Arth Rigi railway only came into operation on the entire route on 4 June 1875. It had lost the race against the Vitznau Rigi railway, but it was said that the Arth carriages were more luxurious.

Right: The tracks of the Vitznau cogwheel railway have an inclination of 25%.

Small images: The elegant carriages of the Arth railway and the Schnurtobelbrücke, an 85 m long tin beam bridge on the Vitznau side.

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1871: ‘It is a peculiar, tentatively safe journey, so to speak, with one of these locomotives that are located at the end of the train, inspiring ten times as much faith as a regular flat-land train, shooting across the land in its unleashed fury. Its progress is no quicker than a fit and able man can walk; indeed, a watchman walks ahead of each train, some 50–100 m in front (who obviously cannot keep up this mountain climbing for long) in order to see whether there are any stones, branches or anything else stuck in the cog rail that might disrupt the smooth and constant progress of the train,’ reported an unidentified observer.

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As far as the village of Vitznau on Lake Lucerne was concerned, the centrally situated Rigi Railway was no longer possible to ignore.

The railway had turned the sleepy fishing village into a well-known destination, but it was still a long way off being a tourist attraction. Instead, Vitznau was a transit zone where the tourists would be brought by boat and dropped off so close to the railway station that it only took a few seconds to reach the cogwheel train’s carriages and climb into them. Thus, these tourists were hardly a direct source of revenue for the tourism enterprises in Vitznau.

However, the profits of the railway were sensational.

In their very first year, the shareholders were paid with dividends of 10 %, which then increased to a payout of 20 % in 1874. Before the outbreak of the First World War, the dividends didn’t fall below 8 %, and normally remained around 10 %. No other Swiss mountain railway could even get close to such returns.

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The lake has many names. All the inhabitants of the region live by ‘Lake Lucerne’, but the Vitznau villagers live by the Vitznau Basin, others by Urn Lake, Gersau Lake, the Alpnacher Lake or the Küssnacht Lake, and so on. But it also has other intriguing nicknames such as ‘Magic Lake’ and ‘Lake of the Gods’.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

Poetry and Truth Johann Wolfgang von Goethe travelled Switzerland three times.

Schiller used Goethe‘s notes to write his Wilhelm Tell.

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Even when the diverse parts of the lake have different names, everyone is in agreement about the legend of the Rütlischwur oath. On the Rütli peninsula, the inhabitants swore that they would stand tall against the Habsburg Empire and the other menace that lurked behind the mountains. German delegates, determined and fearsome men, were laying siege to the alliance.

This is seen as the beginning of the Swiss Confederation.

1 August 1291 was agreed on as the date of this event; since 1891 it has been the Swiss national day.

The story has been an inspiration for many people. Two Germans have created artworks using the legend. One of them was Goethe, who visited Switzerland three times, in 1775, 1779 and 1797. The third trip led him once again into the heartland of Switzerland, to the regions of the Wilhelm Tell legend.

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‘No doubt, Schiller has never been to Tell‘s Switzerland.’

Arno Schmidt (1914–1979)

Goethe’s Letters from Switzerland in 1797 were reflected in his literary output. Ever since his first visit to the land, Goethe had been fascinated by the fact that this country had no monarchic government and nevertheless boasted an astonishing wealth of culture.

The total absence of a court and the nobility that comes with one, along with the legendary concept of freedom, gave Switzerland an aura of advancement.

Moreover – Goethe claimed – after Leipzig, Zurich boasted the most active literature scene in the German-speaking world.

Goethe’s journey through the Alps led him to Schwyz, across Lake Lauerz and to Mt Rigi. Past Vitznau at the foot of the mountain, his route followed the tracks of WihelmTell to the Tell Chapel and on to Altdorf.

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Writers such as Hermann Hesse, the composer Richard Strauss and the Frankfurter philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer all found inspiration here. Personalities such as King Constantine of Greece, various kings of Romania and Mexico and Gustav Stresemann all treasured Lake Lucerne.

One of the residents of Vitznau was the great Swiss composer Hans Huber, who spent his summer in Vitznau every year from 1883 onwards, in Kapelmatt House.

The landscape and maritime painter Jacques Schenker lived in Hubertus House for many years. Alfred Leonz Gassman, the great campaigner for the protection of folk songs and a composer of folk songs and music himself, retired to Vitznau.

In the summer of 1900, Hermann Hesse worked on his novel Peter Camenzind in Vitznau. He changed the name of the lakeside village to Nimikon. After failed attempts to become a famous writer in Zurich, Basel and Italy, the hero returns to this village and becomes a humble landlord. Interestingly enough, in Vitznau, the name Camenzind is very common.

Richard Wagner lived in Tribschen, a headland by Lake Lucerne from 1866 until 1872, where he completed his opera Die Meistersinger and worked on his Ring cycle. Cosima, who had previously been the wife of the conductor Hans von Bülow, lived with him here for six years.

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Richard Wagner (1813–1883, by Caesar Willich, ca. 1862)

Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)

Somerset Maugham waving.

Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler, first Swiss Nobel laureate

Lilian Harvey starred in the movie Eheferien.

In the 30s, the composer and piano virtuoso Sergei Rachmaninov found peace and tranquillity at the Villa Senar, within view of the Park Hotel, in Hertenstein. Today, the villa is still in the possession of his secretive descendants.

The British novelist Somerset Maugham used Lucerne as one of the backdrops to his collection of wartime espionage stories Ashenden Or The British Agent. In 1927, the UFA star Lilian Harvey filmed Eheferien at Lake Lucerne with the director Victor Janson. In 1919, the writer Carl Friedrich Spitteler became the first Swiss to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. What he said about the lake echoes down the ages: ‘Lake Lucerne is a piece of the south catapulted over the Gotthard Pass.’

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Around 1900, Lucerne had approximately 40,000 inhabitants. They opened up their city to nearly 200,000 guests (spending a total 500,000 nights in the city’s hotels) every year.

In 1873, the American writer Henry James wrote that the view from Lucerne of the mountains, the clouds and the lake was so utterly captivating that it was like an artistic spectacle; an opera being run by countless stagehands and hard-working impresarios behind the scenes. With its tens of thousands of tourists, he reckoned that Lucerne was a ‘perfect system’. One had the impression that the mountains had waited thousands of years for the hotels in order to finally have a partner that could match their sheer colossal grandeur.

The attractions weren’t enough for King Ludwig II of Bavaria. In 1881 he chartered a ship in order to bring actors from Munich specially to act out the scenes from Schiller’s play Wihelm Tell in the actual locations where the

Henry James Detail of a painting by John Singer Sargent

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drama historically took place. The king often came to the lake; he once visited Richard Wagner while the latter was living here. For Wagner, the pleasant summer air was more than just a delightful holiday; it was also an escape.

Queen Victoria of England resided in Lucerne. For her, Mt Rigi, Lake Lucerne and the surrounding area constituted the most beautiful place in the world.

The rooms of the grand hotels resounded with this praise. Switzerland acquired the reputation of an impeccable tourist destination: luxurious, well kept and – of course –expensive. For decades, the profitability of the tourism industry was guaranteed and Switzerland became an Elysium, ‘Europe’s hotel’.

In actual fact, Switzerland had narrowly avoided financial ruin. In the years leading up to 1850, Switzerland was a classic emigration land. It was very much partially due to the influx of tourists that this great emigration could be stemmed.

Switzerland, the land-locked country par excellence, had been opened up by the construction of the railways and was accessible to their passengers for the first time. Since Austria (Semmering in 1854, Brenner in 1867) and France (Mnt Cenis in 1871) had opened their Alpine railways relatively swiftly, Switzerland would have been threatened by economic isolation if it hadn’t opened its Alpine tunnels (Gotthard), rail links and mountain passes.

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... and in Vitznau Naturally, the small community in Vitznau could hardly keep up with Lucerne. But the economic boom that Vitznau had experienced with the opening of the Rigi railway was unprecedented. Inns became guesthouses; bed and breakfasts became hotels, sometimes with no more than a couple of rooms that were now hastily renovated for guests and rented out on request.

possibilities do I see for Vitznau’s future! What metamorphosis of its entire nature, until now so precarious, so inconspicuous, lies in wait for it some day! He who travels in Switzerland will doubtless visit the shores of Vitznau, in order to have experienced the Rigi railway and therewith the opportunity to marvel at two miracles: Mt Rigi itself and the railway that takes him up it.

In 1871, D. Maeder, whom we often quote in this book, wrote the following:

The excavation work had barely begun but the steamer found it necessary to augment the frequency of its visits to the Pfyffer Guesthouse in Vitznau from the mere two trips per day it previously made to a staggering eight to 10 times a day.

The postal service also delivers and collects mail several times a day.

A telegraph connection is to be installed soon and all these channels and means of correspondence are to be further expanded in the course of the summer.’

‘The season runs from the beginning of May to the end of August, by fair weather as late as mid-October. However, for spring and autumn spa breaks, Vitznau is at its best in the merry month of May or in October, the wine-picking month, when temperatures are more consistent, the air is cleaner and fresher than in the hot summertime.

Healthy people needing nothing more than escape and recovery will find them nowhere better than in the so-called ‘strict season‘, from June until August.

In general, however, Vitznau is a little like a pine tree, remaining green not only in summer but in the winter as well. Oh, what

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The concrete floors were the first to be poured according to the Frenchman François Hennebique’s system; he recommended iron reinforcement as the foundation for a strong iron-concrete floor. In February 1902, the roof trusses were installed.

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In February 1902 the building lot was snowed in.

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1903: ... ‘private lawn tennis, ... hydraulically operated lift ...‘ 106

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The Park Hotel brochure contained a precise floor plan of the Rigi First Hotel. The Bon family of hoteliers had pretty much covered the market in Vitznau. However, with the best will in the world, diversification was not the order of the day, once Bon had also added the Vitznauer Hof and the Hotel Bellevue – both just across the street – to his portfolio.

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Indoor and outdoor swimming pool — The brochure of abidance — Dining room — Romantic views

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years old ‌ and a bit

The Cycle of an Apple Tree

The life of a seasonal hotel is a little like the yearly cycle of an apple tree high above Vitznau. At the beginning of the season it is in full bloom, but no one can say how the harvest will turn out. Selected moments from the hotel’s first 100 years.

Hotel stationary of 1910/1911

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1903 The hotel boasted a central vacuum cleaning facility, its own beer brewery, a stream that runs a generator through a pressure line. The power generated was used for many things, including the street lighting in front of the hotel.

Postcard from the opening year.

The Rigi railway was operated through the winter for the first time.

1905 In 1905, Karl Koller’s wife’s brotherin-law, Josef Giger, opened the Hotel Bristol in Ragaz and then the Waldhaus in Sils Maria in 1910, which was designed by Koller with participation from Anton Bon. From 1910 onwards, both hotels are run as affiliated organisations.

The airship Zeppelin LZ4 above the lake.

1908 In 1908, Bon had great plans for a new hotel in Rome. They didn’t come to fruition.

On 4 July of the same year, the German Zeppelin LZ4 glided over the Swiss Confederation on a ‘Swiss tour‘ (Route: Friedrichshafen, Constance, Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug, Lake Zurich, Friedrichshafen.

340 km – a new world record.)

On behalf of ‘Mr Bon‘, Karl Koller presented designs for new hotels in Rome and Vitznau (right).

The winter operation of the Rigi railway turned out to be hard work.

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1906: The expansion of the fairy-tale castle to the west (left) would have given it a fortress-like character.

In 1908, Karl Koller even designed a further hotel building in Vitznau, next to the reformed church and the school (below). Neither of the projects were realised.

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1908: Bela Bartรณk in the garden of the Park Hotel. In July 1908 he visited Etelka Freund in Vitznau. This is the oldest picture of Bartรณk in Switzerland.

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1908 The Hungarian composer Bela Bartók was a frequent guest at the Park Hotel. In Vitznau, he worked on the Ten Easy Piano Pieces, Sz 39.

1910 Anton Bon bought the Vitznauer Hof. In St. Moritz, Bon participated in the Suvretta House, financed by the Englishman Charles Sydney Goldman, a British MP. The opening was in 1912.

Lolo von Lenbach Hornstein; Portrait of the daughter, 1910 Franz Seraph Ritter von Lenbach (1836– 1904) was a German painter. He became famous due to his friendship with Otto von Bismarck, of whom he made several portraits that are well known today. Other clients included the two German Kaisers Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II, the Austrian Kaiser Franz Joseph and Pope Leo XIII. In 1896 the Munich painter-noble married Charlotte (known as Lolo) von Hornstein. She also painted and signed her paintings as she has here, with L. v. Lenbach Hornstein. The painting shown here is displayed in the lobby.

Many of Europe’s ruling families and their noble relatives visited Lake Lucerne. Their start point was usually Lucerne and one of its splendid hotels.

The fleet of steamers ferried their royal highnesses around the lake.

1914 Introduction of the visitor’s tax in Vitznau.

The outbreak of the First World War led to a sudden freeze in Swiss tourism. Switzerland mobilised.

The pavilion in the hotel’s garden was used as a munitions depot.

As ‘replacement guests‘, German soldiers came to Vitznau. Officers stayed in the Park Hotel; soldiers stayed in the other hotels and guesthouses.

A new label for both hotels.

Gustav Stresemann was put up in the Park Hotel.

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Standard rates for the season 1969, for the first time under the management of Peter Bally.

1967: Two rocking chairs, one name: Rocking Chair was the name of the new night club. It opened 1967 at the Park Hotel. A sound system for over 25,000 Swiss francs was installed. Design: Haussmann & Haussmann, Zurich.

The elegant dining room at the Park Hotel of the late 1980s; the panoramic window offered the view of the glittering lake.

1968/69 Peter Bally, the great-grandchild of the founder of the hotel (Anton Bon) takes over the hotel. It had 90 rooms with bath, swimming pool, tennis, miniature golf, sauna, massage and water ski, conference rooms for 132 people, at the basement for 170 people, plus the restaurant with 140 seating capacity.

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1970/80s Graphic designers discovered the endless (and endlessly confusing) possibilities of comprehensive information via electronic collage. In this catalogue, six images became one. The colourful parasols create a sort of roof garden next to

the tower. The pig roast floats on the ceiling of the peach suite, held only by the cook’s fork. Who knows whether the lady in red right underneath would’ve sat there so calmly if she’d known…

Peter and Junia Bally.

The beautiful park at the Park Hotel.

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The violin virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter stayed at the Park Hotel Vitznau, when she performed at the Lucerne Festival.

* In 2003, a guest actually made the Park Hotel his permanent home. Max Rédoc, life artist, painter and writer, moved in.

Since the Park Hotel was only run through the summer and Max needed a place to stay for the whole year, he simply spent the winter here too. Thus it was that he spent Christmas and New Year’s in the hotel, the only soul in the building.

That is, until the fire brigade came.

Which actually happened more than he wanted. But ultimately, Max’s cigars often simply didn’t get on with the highly sensitive fire alarms.

Max Rédoc left us with a few valuable observations from his time here, such as the ‘group of Japanese guests who wait in a disciplined manner, cameras at the ready, for their departure…’ or the ‘raucous mob of old American boys,’ standing in front of the hotel: ‘In the quickest of flashes, the somewhat humble entrance to the hotel de luxe plays host to such a gathering of chequered trousers, golf bags and luggage that a US Republican handicap emerges that cannot easily be overcome.’

But the highpoint of his delicious commentary is doubtless to be found in the story of the room service waiter Tino, who is confronted by a love-stricken American woman whilst serving breakfast one day. ‘…Questo è un po’ troppo!’ (‘This is a bit heavy’) groans the poor man and explains what happened to him.

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2004 With Murder at the Park Hotel, the author Silvia Götschi introduced the investigator Walker, who meets a rustic writer* at the Park Hotel.

The movie Accidentally in Love was filmed at the Park Hotel. The main roles were taken by Lea Hadorn, Stefan Gubser and Dieter Moor.

Much-loved cooking parties brought together chefs with a combined total of more than 100 Gault Millau points and four Michelin stars and placed them all in one kitchen.

The Presidential Suite was created in the west wing, with floor space of up to 240 m2 (£ 3,300 per night).

2009 The hotel was sold by the Oetker Group to the Austrian investor Peter Pühringer’s Group. The hotel was closed on 19 October.

The interior decoration was removed and sold off. An investment project began that far exceeded the combined investment in the 150-year history of the hotel (including the Pfyffer Guesthouse).

The vision fundamentally changed the economic structure of the hotel.

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Seems like a fairy-tale, but here a whole castle is put asleep, desperately waiting to be resurrected.

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Details from a chandelier in the Scappi Residence.

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M

odern Times

A Picture Essay

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The west wing, completed in 2012, is dedicated to art; it includes the investor’s residential suite and suites paying homage to music and theatre. Even the stairwell and the entrance hall boast stunning wall paintings from the French Fantastic Realist Claude Verlinde.

The 100-seater auditorium is dominated by the monumental painting Le Miroir from Verlinde, along with a Rieger organ from Wendelin Eberle.

The Austrian organ building company Rieger was founded in 1845; in 1896 they were appointed the Imperial and Royal organ builders for Austria. They supply the most important organs for churches, basilicas, domes, concert halls and universities around the world. In 2003, Wendelin Eberle took over the firm – the seventh generation to take the helm.

The mechanic salon organ has 795 pipes, the longest of which is 2.5 m long and the shortest of which is 8 mm. The 14 voices or registers are played on three systems: the organist uses two manuals and one set of foot pedals. A total of nine different kinds of wood were used in the construction of this Rieger organ, all native.

The ca. 1,300 kg organ, measuring 4.7 x 2.6 m is mounted on a movable chassis making it easier to tune and repair.

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The wine cellar at the Park Hotel Vitznau today.

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‘The cellar is no less noteworthy, stocked as it is with many exceptional wines.’ D Maeder, 1871 PARK HOTEL VITZNAU

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About the power of silence: inside = outside pool, 21 x 9 m, 12 months, 29°C. PARK HOTEL VITZNAU

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Ãœbrigens ...

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