Hôtel Continental

The Hôtel Continental, 3, rue de Castiglione, corner of the rue de Rivoli, facing the Tuileries Garden, Paris, which opened in April 1878, [Karl Baedeker, "Paris and Its Environs", 1878.] was designed by Charles Garnier's nephew Henri Blondel and was intended to be the most luxurious hotel in Paris at the time. It occupied the full block that was the former premises of the Ministry of Finance, (burned in 1871) which had been designed by François-Hippolyte Destailleur in 1817, following the Bourbon Restoration. [ [http://www.minefi.gouv.fr/directions_services/cedef/ministere_ville/tha.html see note)] .] The Hôtel Continental remained the largest hotel in Paris for decades; the Russian Grand Dukes habitually stayed there; [ [http://www.picrare.com/Royalty_Digest/RDArticles/RDArticles4.htm Notes by Lord Hardinge] .] at the Liberation of Paris, bedsheets were hung from its windows as cheerful flags of surrender. [ [http://www.paris.org/Expos/Liberation/Surrender/ Vintage photo] ] The hotel remains in business as The Westin Paris, retaining some of its Louis XIV-style reception rooms.

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