One hundred years ago passed away one of the most symbolic architects of the Belle Époque, Hans Georg Tersling, who designed the imposing Hôtel Bristol and several large villas in Beaulieu. Born in Denmark in 1857 into a very modest family, Tersling began working as a carpenter before entering the Royal Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen (1). Through the intermediary of a fellow countryman, he moved to Menton, where he assisted the architect Gustave Rives, before settling in the town for good in 1 883.

The Métropole de Monte-Carlo and the Bristol

A series of hotels followed, including the Métropole de Monte-Carlo and the Grand Hôtel du Cap Martin.

In 1897, as the foreign wintering clientele began to appreciate Beaulieu more and more, British furniture manufacturer Blundell Maple, eager to invest in the little town, called in Hans Georg Tersling. Completed in less than two years, the 300-room establishment known as Le Bristol, employing over 150 people, was inaugurated on January 5, 1899.

In its rotunda dining room, with bay windows framed by colonnades, the Côte d’Azur’s wintering gotha soon gather.

Villa Masséna and Villa Cyrnos on Cap Martin

Alongside his hotels, Tersling built several villas. In Beaulieu, in collaboration with architect Aron Messiah, he built a superb residence in the middle of a 2.5-hectare park for English railroad engineer James Livesey. At the same time, Tersling was working with the same architect on the famous Villa Masséna in Nice. However, it was in Cap Martin that Tersling built his most beautiful homes, starting with the Villa Cyrnos, commissioned by none other than the former Empress Eugenie, who placed her full trust in him (2).

His reputation was now established, and the Dane was entrusted with the design of almost all the magnificent villas around the Empress’s, which can still be admired today in what is known as the private estate of Cap Martin.

Like many of the Côte d’Azur’s top hotels, the Hôtel Bristol became too large and costly to maintain after the Second World War, and was transformed into a condominium. Fortunately, its stucco architecture remains intact, and is highly symbolic of the 1900s.

The superb rotunda, now owned by the commune, has become a cultural space where artistic events take place on a regular basis.

DIDIER GAYRAUD

(1) Michel Stève: Hans Georg Tersling architecte de la Côte d’Azur (Editions Serre 1990).

(2) Etienne Chilot: Un jardin pour Eugénie (Editions Somogy 2014).

Source : Nice-Matin