Hôtel Raphael is a French luxury hotel situated on Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It is a five-star hotel and belongs to Les Hôtels Baverez. During the German occupation of Paris the hotel was the principal billet for senior officers of the SS, Gestapo and Wehrmacht.
History
Rooftop at the Hôtel Raphael in Paris in 2019.
The hotel was constructed in 1925 through the initiative of Léonard Tauber and Constant Baverez, co-founders of the Regina (1900) and the Majestic (1908). It was constructed in the Golden Twenties era and designed by architect André Rousselot. Decorated in the Art Deco style, it was named as a tribute to the painter Raphael and the fine arts.
The hotel has been a popular venue for well-known French and international artists, politicians and famous personalities. A number of films have been shot there, including Love in Paris (1996), Place Vendôme (1998), and the short Hotel Chevalier in 2007. Scenes from the hotel have also been used in Le Magnifique (1973), Gramps Is in the Resistance (Papy fait de la résistance, 1983), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). The Raphael became the base of operations and home to the Hollywood company of GIGI (1958) when they filmed in Paris in 1957. Lyricist/screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner and his collaborator, composer Frederick Loewe wrote most of their celebrated GIGI score in their suite. The hotel's 6th floor was turned into the film company's production offices for the duration of the shoot. [1]
After the German army occupied Paris in May 1940 the hotel became home to senior officers of the SS, Gestapo and the Wehrmacht, many of whom worked at the Majestic situated opposite the Raphael on avenue des Portugais. The Raphael was the site of many disputes between Nazi Party officials and senior staff officers of the Wehrmacht and the Militärbefehlshaber Frankreich. The famed German author Ernst Junger was resident at the Raphael as a Wehrmacht captain in 1941/42 and 1943/44. Junger wrote many of the entries for his war journals within its confines.[2]
The hotel counts 83 bedrooms over seven floors, as well as six conference rooms. The latter are in the former apartments of Léonard Taubert. The hotel has been managed by the Baverez family for several generations, along with Hôtel Regina and Majestic Hôtel-Spa.
Restaurant
Hotel Raphael offers fine dining with chef Étienne Barrier since 2014, succeeding Amandine Chaignot. Nina Métayer has also worked at the hotel.
References
^Fordin, Hugh, "The World of Entertainment," Doubleday & Co., (c) 1975, p.460
^Ernst Junger, A German Officer in Occupied Paris, The War Journals, 1941-1945, Columbia Press
