I have a long-standing love of fine hotels. In my early 20’s, I saw first hand how hoteliers such as Ian Schrager transformed properties like the Paramount or the Royalton into spaces that were not only complete aesthetic worlds for their guests but also hot-spots that attracted and served the local community. Conversely, in my travels, I also experienced the fact that even some of the most elegant resorts in the world miss out on that spark, leaving behind an after taste of champagne gone flat.
So it was with great anticipation when I first heard that the designer Christian Lacroix had agreed to redesign the Hotel Jules Cesar, one of Arles’ most well-known luxury hotels that had sadly morphed into something of a sleeping dinosaur in recent years. Christian Lacroix is not only from Arles, he is one of its prodigal sons. He understands the tricky juxtapositions of this ancient town innately. In the introduction to the excellent guidebook, “Arles, ville d’art et d’histoire,” he proclaims that, “Arles is at once working-class and imperial, rustic and aristocratic, Christian and pagan, modest and proud, classical and traditional, stark and baroque, austere and unbridled. Apollo and Dionysus. In colour and black and white.”
How would all of that translate into a hotel design? Christian Lacroix had found an apt partner in architect Olivier Sabran but how much could they do?
I pushed open the old rotating doors, happily still in place, took one look around…
…and gasped with delight.
It was all here. From the proud toréador presiding over the bar, to the 18th century scenes depicting Arles as it was (including an insider’s wink from when the Arena had been transformed into a village of its own), to the vibrant colors so present in the light, the air – those that inspired Van Gogh and Picasso – to the hum of the future that Arles is building towards with swift momentum. For as I have already said, “It is not sleeping.”
And neither is the hotel. It is a lot to take in.
There are so many details to discover, such as the combination of Provençal calade and Roman mosaics woven into the carpet…
…a light-filled breakfast room perfect for charging up for the day…
…and so many corners for a tête à tête.
I was delighted to see that the design was not a tabula rasa, for that would not be Arlésien du tout but rather a mixing of old and new. Some of the fauteils that I recognized from the hotels previous incarnation had been given a new zip of upholstery…
And the panelling in the restaurant was topped with a parade of L’Arlésiennes in their finest…
…as well as a few of the wild bulls from the Camargue that are no doubt being served up on plate too. As I visited in the afternoon, the restaurant, Lou Marquès, was closed but I have heard, as was always the case, nothing but good things regarding the chefs Pascal Renaud and Joseph Kriz who have upped the ante of their regional cooking by bringing in a new pastry chef, Anne Beyl.
For you see, the hotel’s team was not shelved during its acquisition by the Maranatha Group, something of a rarity. As part of the contract, it was agreed upon that the former owner, Monsieur Albagnac, now in his nineties, would be permitted to continue living in his private quarters onsite.
And while I was poking around the delightfully Alice in Wonderland like hallways, some of which had been scrawled upon with quotes from another prodigal son of Provence, the Nobel Prize winning poet Frederic Mistral, I met one of the hotels top managers who had been with the company for 26 years. Anyone who has worked in the industry knows how demanding it is and I was really pleased to know that such dedication had been correctly rewarded.
The gentleman very kindly offered to show me a standard double room…
…where the interplay of materials and prints that Lacroix had already used to such acclaim in his designs for such Parisian hotels as the Hôtel Petit Moulin or Le Bellechasse is in evidence…
…as is the presence of a fine antique armoire for which the artisans of the area became well-known in the 19th century.
Brazilian tiles meet ones that are a funky sun-splashed mix in the bath…
…an echo of the light that pours in through the former cloister on the lower level of this historic building.
In the 17th century, the building was created as a convent for the Carmelite nuns, who were expulsed during the French Revolution, when the building served as the Hôpital de la Charité until it was closed in 1903. Afterwards, a petition was put forward to convert the space into a luxury hotel, in which purpose it has served since 1928, save during World War II when it became the Kommandatur of the German Occupation. As Arles is protected as a World Heritage Site, all of the historic aspects of the property were renovated by the règles du métier under the strict supervision of the Bâtiments de France.
It is fun to imagine what the nuns would have thought of the extravagant Lacroix suite!
It is a modern cocoon and yes, the bright red is comforting…
…and a welcome change from the quiet Zen styles that have reigned over hotel design for far too long.
As someone who claims – a tad boastfully even! – to know Arles very, very well…
…it was wonderful to discover a charming garden courtyard that I had no idea existed…
…as well as to be surprised by the splashes of the pool where tanned twenty somethings lounged languidly in the sun.
Such is the spirit of the new Hotel Jules Cesar, now a five-star property, it is an invitation to have a seat…
…and open the door to the best of the essence of all that Arles is, has been and hopefully will become. I know that I will certainly look forward to going back as a guest or as a local. In 2001, Christian Lacroix also wrote from the result of his living here, “What I see, I keep; but I grow because I give in return. The key here is not so much the idea of an eloquent past as that of a present whose voice is always in the background.” May that voice keep humming for a very long time.
Hotel Jules Cesar
9 Boulevard des Lices
13200 Arles
Tel.: +33 (0)4 52 52 52
www.hotel-julescesar.fr
Special re-opening rates can be booked on the website starting from 125€ for a Chambre Classique, the Suite Lacroix from 382€
13200 Arles
Tel.: +33 (0)4 52 52 52
www.hotel-julescesar.fr
Special re-opening rates can be booked on the website starting from 125€ for a Chambre Classique, the Suite Lacroix from 382€
Extraordinary! The colours of the espadrilles splashed through a hotel; very refreshing.
Mike, I am going to do a post on the Arlesienne exhibit! Hopefully later in the week. 🙂 I loved it. And yep, I totally agree with you about the energy but maybe it is something that you have to have lived in Arles to get? Although, when I talked to the manager he said that of all of their regular, long-standing customers, only one so far hasn't liked it, so I do think it goes with the building as well.
No, I haven't done posts on either of those fine hotels but would like to one day – again, it is just getting over being shy and presenting myself. And that makes me happy to hear that one of the staff from Le Cilantro is working there! Good peeps.
Ok, off to look for myself on Google Earth…I don't know why I find that so funny but I do…
It is definitely worth a visit, Judy. And you know, if the hotel were in say…Saint Remy I might agree with you but I understood some years ago that Arles is not Provence, Arles is Arles. It can be tough, it is often forceful, there is little of the soft and pale about it – not even in the old stones of the monuments!
Mahalo, Bill! Perfectly put…
I am a big fan of mixing old and new – I really prefer it now to all one or the other…
I hope you don't mind that I let the cat out of the bag before your arrival. Perhaps it was best to prepare you?
Yes, it is not for everyone!
Thanks Keith – and yes, I was ready to dive in to take a nap. 🙂
That makes me super happy that you are getting out your bag, sometimes we just need to remember that they are there!
Such a variety of opinions! We stayed there in cool, wet and calm December of 2010 before Xmas during the filming of our International House Hunters episode…..well it would have been one of the best episodes if true. It was a great deal and was antiquishly appealing and comfortable and probably more conforming to the expectations of soft and pale Provence. I came to see the lobby, halls and restaurant during a visit to the Chapel during the Rencontres. The chapel had been closed prior to my knowledge and is amazing and the Arlesienne exhibit was fascinating, (still there a few more weeks I think). Heather thank you for getting into the rooms. I would say the place rocks and the contrasts in town are made stronger and more vibrant with this renovation…and so much more to come. Have you done blogs on Hotel Particulier or Hotel du Cloitre? We saw a bartender who recognized us as as we recognized him who was an excellent and class waiter at the old Cilantro in La Hauteur. This was a great distraction for me while at work…I didn't read the texts until just now in fact.
I snapped a photo using the ipad of the google earth screen; if you aren't able to find it i can attach it to an email if I had an address to send it to for you….Not sure how to do it from the blog
Mike