Caux-Palace: exterior

Caux-Palace was inaugurated in early July 1902. At the time, it was considered one of the most luxurious mountain hotels ever built.
 
Eugène Jost (1865-1937), a specialist in hotel architecture during the Belle Époque was the architect commissioned to draw up the plans for Caux-Palace. He was also responsible for the Montreux Palace, the Beau Rivage in Ouchy and the Hôtel des Alpes in Territet. With 7 levels of rooms and modern infrastructure (elevator, electric lighting, central heating, a drainage system and water supply), Caux-Palace represented a true masterpiece of ingenuity.
 
The particular architecture of Caux-Palace allowed for the hotel to be divided into three distinct wings. The west wing houses the guest apartments (bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, toilets and bathrooms). The north wing houses the servants’ quarters, the hydrotherapy center, and the laundry. The east wing houses common reception areas (ball room, dining room, vestibule, promenade, etc.). This spacing plan aims at preserving the intimacy of its guests by clearly separating the private from all the public functions expected of a luxury hotel.
 
Until 1914, the hotel lived its days of glory and tourists stayed there for months on end. During the interwar period, operating Caux-Palace became more difficult due to limited finances and the establishment no longer met the requirements of a first-class hotel. Despite major renovations in 1929, the palace was unable to regain its former popularity. Renamed the Hôtel Esplanade in 1937, it was acquired postwar by the Moral Re-Armament movement (renamed Initiatives and Change).
 
Caux-Palace belvedere
The construction of Caux-Palace began in April 1900 and lasted 26 months. Up to 360 workers, most of them of Italian origin, worked on the construction site to build this imposing building. The first stage involved constructing a huge retaining wall on the lower slope of the mountain, also called a belvedere, boulevard or promenoir, in order to provide an esplanade for the foundations of the hotel. This structure, characterized by a series of arches, is almost a kilometer long. At one point, a reinforced concrete bridge - an innovative technique at the beginning of the 20th century - was built to allow the passage of the Glion-Naye cog railway.
 
Caux-Palace entrance and shopping strip
The main entrance of Caux-Palace as well as the hotel’s boutiques were located on the extension of the road from the station. There was a jeweller’s, a stationer’s, a hairdresser’s, a florist’s, a shoemaker’s, a tailor’s, a photographer’s as well as a tobacconist’s and embroidery and postcard store. Luxury commodities at 1000 meters above sea level were just as available as in the main shopping streets of Montreux.
 
Discrimination
When the Caux-Palace opened in 1902, the elegant and affluent guests of the establishment enjoyed privileges that are difficult to understand today. For example, local residents were not allowed to use the sidewalk in front of the hotel. At the station buffet, Cauchois (the inhabitants of the village) could only use the kitchen entrance, and were not permitted to dine at the restaurant in order to make room for the guests of Caux-Palace.
 
Sources:
Archives of Montreux: Places of Delight - The Caux-Palace during the Belle Époque. European Heritage Days 2008. By Julie Lapointe Guigoz, Jacky Brandt, Eric Jaeger, Nicole Meystre-Schaeren, Christian Gerber.