Hotel Bristol
Encyclopedia
There are more than 200 hotels around the world called Bristol. Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
has the most, with more than 50, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
has around 30. They range from the grand European hotels, such as Hôtel Le Bristol Paris
Hôtel Le Bristol Paris
Hôtel Le Bristol Paris is a luxury hotel, located on the fashion precinct of the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris, France, at number 112.- History :...
and the Bristol in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to budget hotels, such as the SRO (single room only) Bristol in San Francisco. They are not a chain, except in Brazil, where Bristol Hoteis & Resorts has around a dozen hotels throughout the country with the Bristol name.
Many luxury Bristol hotels from the Edwardian era (for example in Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Beaulieu-sur-Mer , Italian: Belluogo, is a seaside village on the French Riviera between Nice and Monaco. It is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department and borders the communes of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Èze, and Villefranche-sur-Mer.-History:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and St Petersburg) have not survived, while the Bristol Hotel, Odessa (1899) has reclaimed its name after changing it to the Krasnaya Hotel during the Soviet era. One of the oldest still functioning is the Bernini Bristol in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, which opened in 1874. Modern hotels to use the name include those in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, San Diego and Gurgaon
Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
, India. The town of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
did not have a Bristol hotel until 2007 when Jurys Hotel Bristol changed its name simply to The Bristol.
Origins
The first known Hotel Bristol was in Place VendômePlace Vendôme
Place Vendôme is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix. Its regular architecture by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and pedimented screens canted across the...
in Paris. It opened in 1816 and became a favourite of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, who had a suite there. When it closed in 1916, its name was fought over, and finally won by Hippolyte Jammet, who opened Hôtel Le Bristol Paris
Hôtel Le Bristol Paris
Hôtel Le Bristol Paris is a luxury hotel, located on the fashion precinct of the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris, France, at number 112.- History :...
in nearby Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, today one of the city's five-star palace hotels.
The Bristol name
Two possible origins of the name are the association with the English port-city of BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, and Frederick Hervey
Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol
Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, PC , known as The Earl-Bishop, was Bishop of Cloyne from 1767 to 1768 and Bishop of Derry from 1768 to 1803.- Life :...
, the fourth Earl of Bristol
Earl of Bristol
Earl of Bristol is a title that has been created twice in British history. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1622 in favour of the politician and diplomat John Digby who served for many years as Ambassador to Spain, and had already been created Baron Digby of Sherborne, in the...
and Bishop of Derry (1730–1803). According to his biographer, "So widely famed was the Bishop as a traveller, and so great his reputation as a connoisseur of all good things, that Lord Bristol's hotel...came to be the best known and regarded in every city or town where he sojourned and was thus the precursor of the Hotels Bristol to be found all over Europe. Lord Bristol died in Italy at the start of the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
(1803–15), which interrupted the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
. The Bristol in Paris was one of many opened in the ensuing peace, hoping to re-establish the Continental tourist trade.
The fact that many hotels, such as the Bernini Bristol in Rome, use the coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the City of Bristol in their logos leads to speculation that they are named after the city and not the Earl-Bishop. But there is no evidence that the Bristol family ever granted use of their arms to any hotel, while the city's coat of arms can freely be adopted to give an aristocratic image.
In the news
- Hôtel Le Bristol ParisHôtel Le Bristol ParisHôtel Le Bristol Paris is a luxury hotel, located on the fashion precinct of the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris, France, at number 112.- History :...
is a favourite of film stars, and has monthly fashion shows in the Bristol bar. P.G. Wodehouse was kept there by the Germans during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Amschel Mayor James RothschildAmschel Mayor James RothschildAmschel Mayor James Rothschild was a businessman.Rothschild was born in Paris, the youngest child of Victor Rothschild and his second wife, Teresa Georgina Rothschild . On his father's side, he descended from the Rothschild family. His maternal grandfather, Robert John Grote Mayor, was the brother...
was found hanged in his room there in 1996 and Polish millionairess Kinga Legg was murdered in her room in 2008 . - Valerie SolanasValerie SolanasValerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer, best known for her attempted murder of Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which called for male gendercide and the creation of an all-female society.-Early life:Solanas was born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, to Louis...
, author of the S.C.U.M. Manifesto and attempted assassin of Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, died in room 202 of the Bristol Hotel in San Francisco. Richard RamirezRichard RamirezRicardo "Richard" Muñoz Ramírez is a convicted serial killer awaiting execution on California's death row at San Quentin State Prison...
(a.k.a. Night StalkerRichard RamirezRicardo "Richard" Muñoz Ramírez is a convicted serial killer awaiting execution on California's death row at San Quentin State Prison...
) stayed in the same hotel, room 315, during his killing spree in 1985. - Hotel Bristol, Warsaw opened in 1901 on Krakowskie PrzedmieścieKrakowskie PrzedmiescieKrakowskie Przedmieście is one of the most impressive and prestigious streets of Poland's capital.Several other Polish cities also have streets named Krakowskie Przedmieście. In Lublin, it is the main and most elegant street...
. Thoroughly refurbished in its original style in the 1990s it was reopened by Lady ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, an event that forms the final chapter of her memoirs. - Hotel Bristol (Berlin)Hotel Bristol (Berlin)Hotel Bristol was a hotel in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by architect Gustav Georg Carl Gause and opened in 1891. On 22 November 1943 the hotel was destroyed during a raid on Berlin....
opened in 1891 and was destroyed in an air raid in 1943. It held the first international first IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) motor show, in 1897, and was involved in the Krupp scandal, detailed in William Manchester's book on the arms manufacturer. - The five-star luxury hotel in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
opposite the Vienna State OperaVienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
House is now one of the most exclusive hotels in Austria and arguably the world after being restructured by the famous hotelier Georg HochfilzerGeorg HochfilzerGeorg Hochfilzer is an Austrian businessman. He is the former General Manager of the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, one of 257 Leading Hotels of the World, from which he retired in 2008....
. It has hosted many historical figures including Teddy Roosevelt. It was here that the Prince of WalesPrince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
and Wallis Simpson sojourned at the height of their affair, in 1936; the most sumptuous suite is named after him. - Leon TrotskyLeon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
was accused of meeting with others to plot against Stalin in the Hotel Bristol (Copenhagen)Hotel Bristol (Copenhagen)Hotel Bristol, also known as Absalons Gaard after a later owner, is a former hotel located on the City Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark.-As a hotel:Hotel Bristol was built in two stages...
. An alibi was established in 1937 when the Dewey CommissionDewey CommissionThe Dewey Commission was initiated in March 1937 by the "American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky." It was named after its Chairman, John Dewey...
showed that the hotel had burned down in 1917.
In fiction
- Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's 2011 film, Midnight in ParisMidnight in ParisMidnight in Paris is a 2011 romantic comedy-fantasy film written and directed by Woody Allen. The plot centers on a small group of Americans visiting the French capital for business and pleasure...
, is partly set in Le Bristol in Paris. - There is a Bristol hotel In HavHAVHAV or hav may be:* The Hepatitis A virus.* Hand arm vibrations* Hallux Abducto Valgus, a bunion anomaly* Hav, a fictional city in the novel Last Letters from Hav by Jan Morris...
(2006), Jan MorrisJan MorrisJan Morris CBE is a Welsh nationalist, historian, author and travel writer. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City.With an English mother and Welsh father,...
's book about a mythical city-state. - LL Cool JLL Cool JJames Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
's Bristol Hotel song on his 1987 album Bigger and DefferBigger and DefferBigger And Deffer , is the second studio album by rapper LL Cool J and is remembered most for containing the first commercially successful "rap ballad", "I Need Love". It also contains the single "Go Cut Creator Go", which paid homage to his DJ, and the breakthrough single in the U.K. "I'm Bad"...
is about prostitutionProstitutionProstitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
in a fictional Hotel Bristol in Jamaica, QueensJamaica, QueensJamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
. - The Hotel Bristol (in fact the The San Francisco Hilton) was used as the setting for the 1972 film, What's Up Doc?, starring Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and Ryan O'NealRyan O'NealCharles Patrick Ryan O'Neal , better known as Ryan O'Neal, is an American actor best known for his appearances in the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place and for his roles in such films as Paper Moon , Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon , A Bridge Too Far , and Love Story , for which he received...
.
External links
- The Earl of Bristol Didn't Sleep Here, But the Hotel Might Be Named After Him, Wall Street Journal (Sept 27, 2008).
- High Times at the Hotel Bristol: Twenty Bedtime Tales, by Roger Williams, stories based on hotels called Bristol (Bristol Book Publishing, 2007)
- The Mitred Earl: An Eighteenth-Century Eccentric by Brian Fothergill (Faber & Faber 1974)
- The Arms of Krupp by William Manchester, details corruption in the Berlin Bristol (Little, Brown, 1968)
- The Earl Bishop, the life of Frederick Hervey, Bishop of Derry, Earl of Bristol, by William Shakespeare Childe-Pemberton, Hurst & Blackett, London, 1924