There was no gilt or gilding in the late-1990s renovation of Paris’ famed palace hotel, the George V. But you might think so, based on the cost of the two-year project, which totaled US$125 million.
“We virtually gutted the inside,” Ramsey Mankarious, executive vice president of development for Kingdom Holding Co. said at the time. “The George V renovation became one of the biggest construction projects in France at the time… You could see workers in every window.”
It was also a thoughtful risk for His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his Kingdom Holding, which owned the hotel, and the Four Seasons, in which the prince was a major shareholder. The number of guestrooms was reduced to 245 from 300; room sizes and their bathrooms became bigger, infrastructure was updated and double-glazed windows were added. Muted color palettes in green, blue or yellow served as a balance to the more classically inspired French furnishings.
The architect of the renovation was Richard Martinet, and the interior designer was Pierre-Yves Rochon, both of Paris. The aim was “to keep the essence of what the hotel was, but make it cleaner, better, Rochon said. The lobby’s art deco aesthetic was retained, but a marble patterned floor and restored tapestries were added.
The hotel was also redeveloped with an eye toward attracting more business: meeting spaces were meticulously designed and included hardwood floors, book-lined walls, antique fireplaces and wood paneling.
“The hotel was renovated to our specifications,” said the general manager at the time, Didier Le Calvez. “If anything goes wrong, we have only ourselves to blame.”
