Hotel Grande Bretagne

Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens

Hotel Grande Bretagne in Central Athens
General information
Location Athens, Greece
Coordinates 37°58′35″N 23°44′08″E / 37.976300°N 23.735448°E / 37.976300; 23.735448
Opening 1874
Owner LAMPSA HELLENIC HOTELS S.A. [1]
Management Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Technical details
Floor count 9
Other information
Number of restaurants 8[2]
Parking Valet Parking
Website
www.grandebretagne.gr

The Hotel Grande Bretagne (Greek: Ξενοδοχείο Μεγάλη Βρεταννία) is a luxury city hotel in Greece, one of the most luxurious in southern Europe. It is located in central Athens immediately adjacent to Syntagma Square, on the corner of Vasileos Georgiou A' and Panepistimiou Streets, and is now part of "The Luxury Collection" hotel chain, managed by the American company Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and owned by LAMPSA HELLENIC HOTELS S.A., where the majority shareholders are the brothers Panos and Thanasis Laskaridis.[3]

History

The structure was built in 1842 as a house for Antonis Dimitriou, a wealthy Greek businessman from the island of Limnos, only 12 years after Greece's independence from Ottoman Rule. It was then bought in 1874 by Efstathios Lampsas, who restored the mansion with an 800,000 drachma loan and named it the Grande Bretagne; by 1888 the hotel had electricity installed. In November 1930 a new wing on Panepistimiou Street was inaugurated and in 1950 another wing on Voukourestiou Street. In 1957 Dimitriou's mansion was demolished and a new wing was built on its place. The architect Kostas Voutsinas and the owners decided to try to keep much of the style of the original building.

During the Greco-Italian War and the Battle of Greece in 1940–41, the hotel housed the Greek General Headquarters. Following the Axis occupation of Greece, the hotel served as the Nazi headquarters. British forces made the hotel their headquarters at war's end in 1944.[4][5]

During the early stages of the Greek Civil War, the hotel housed Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou, the Council of Ministers and the British military assistance force under General Ronald Scobie.

In 2006, the Hotel Grande Bretagne underwent a complete renovation to restore it to its former glory, and approximately 112 million Euros were invested to completely modernize the building. There are 320 comprehensively renovated rooms & suites, including a 400 square metre (4,305 sqf.) suite on the fifth floor.

Notes

References

  1. ↑ "OWNER". Grande Bretagne. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  2. ↑ "Restaurants & Bars". Grande Bretagne. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  3. ↑ "Grande Bretagne Hotel in Athens". Lux Hotels. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  4. ↑ Alan Crawford; Tony Czuczka (12 June 2013). Angela Merkel: A Chancellorship Forged in Crisis. Wiley. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-118-64109-5.
  5. ↑ "Greece debt crisis: What happened to democracy when it's a case of 'Vote Yes or else'?". The independent. 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
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