Eden Palace au Lac

A grand hotel of the Belle Époque

The first mention of the establishment dates back to 1894. It opened officially in October 1896 as the Hôtel International, “near the Kursaal, on the quay”, run by the Defago family: a brand-new house, fitted with a lift and electric light. In 1899 a consortium of businessmen from Montreux and Lausanne bought it, and around 1904 the “International” became the “Eden”. The building is the work of the architect Louis Villard, also credited with the Excelsior, the Villa Toscane and the Hôtel Suisse, today the Majestic.

From 1910 to 1956 Émile Eberhard-Fallegeer served as owner and director, weathering the two world wars and the drying up of Montreux’s grand tourism. Frédéric Tissot succeeded him in 1956 and gradually modernised the hotel. A 1970s project to raze it and raise a fifteen-storey tower was abandoned after the 1974 oil crisis. The Eden then set off again under Carlo de Mercurio and his CDM group, before the English industrialist Jean-Jacques Murray, having fallen for Montreux, bought it and in 2008 founded the Montreux Suisse Hôtels group, which brings together the Royal Plaza, the Eden Palace au Lac, the Grand Hôtel Excelsior and the Villa Toscane.

April 1964: the Rolling Stones in front of the hotel

During their visit to Montreux on 20 April 1964, the five Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman, posed in the grounds of the Eden Palace, leaning on the wrought-iron railing of the steps at the front of the hotel.

It was one of the band’s very first trips outside Britain. The photograph, by Derek Berwin, made the cover of the British magazine “Fabulous” dated 11 July 1964.

Queen’s garden party, in 1978

In 1978, while “Jazz” was being recorded at Mountain Studios, Queen’s record company held a promotional party in the hotel gardens. The photographer Peter Hince followed the band there: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon posed in the grounds and by the lake, surrounded by those close to them.

July 1983: Keith Haring’s room

From 6 to 16 July 1983 Keith Haring stayed here with his partner. The hotel stands on the Rue du Théâtre, almost opposite the building under construction on which he painted his eight-panel work. He took his meals at the Casino, a few steps away.

The guest book: from blues to song stars

The hotel’s guest book speaks of its bond with music. On 5 August 1976 the pianist Sammy Price, a great figure of blues and boogie-woogie, gave a concert in the Eden’s “Belle Époque” lounge. That same year, at the time of the Montreux Jazz Festival, the hotel put up the pianist Sir Charles Thompson, then, in October, the double bassist Charles Mingus and the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, alongside the singer Véronique Sanson.

Other voices stopped here too: Charles Aznavour in October 1975, the group Eruption in 1979, Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac in September 1983, Florent Pagny in 1996 and Umberto Tozzi in 1998. The hotel also welcomed guests from other worlds, from the actor Roger Moore, in May 1990, to several federal councillors received in its lounges in 1977.