History
The older and grander Hotels of the Promenade des Anglais were built at the turn of the
century. In most people's eyes, the grandest, with its Empire and Napoleon decor, is the
Negresco. Henri Negresco, a Hungarian immigrant, built the building, which is now a national
monument, in 1912. Before he started the Hotel, Henri was director of the City Casino's
Restaurant - we're talking guests who were the richest people in the world, the
Rockefellers and the Singers.
He wanted his Hotel to be a haunts lieu as well and had it designed to attract the very top of
the upper crust. As bad luck would have it, World War I reared its ugly head, and the hotel
became a hospital. Negresco died shortly after the war, a ruined man. Once the Americans
arrived during the roaring twenties business soon picked up. Especially once Gerald and Sara
Murphy and their entourage of writers and celebrities had discovered the pleasures of summer on
the Riviera.
There are many more pleasures to be discovered on and around Promenade des Anglais. On the
Avenue des Baumettes, there is the Museum des Beaux-Arts Jules. And, in a little park on Rue de
France just off the promenade, there is the Museum Massena named after a local boy who was made
a Napoleonic general. Weary? Take a short walk back to the Beach and enjoy the View across the
bay to the Cap d' Antibes and the fortified Port Vauban, which was built to defend Antibes,
and France, from the Niçois.
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