Brenner’s Park-Hotel & Spa

How the Stage was Set HISTORY IN BRIEF 1834: The hotel started life as Stephaniebad (see below) 1872: A certain Anton Brenner bought the property. HISTORY IN DETAIL 1834: The hotel started life under the name Stephanienbad, a homage to Princess Stephanie of Baden, the adoptive daughter of Napoleon. As the wife of Grand Duke Karl, she was also Baden's Lady of State from 1811 to 1818. 1857: The ownership of the house passed into the hands of French businessmen, triggering an influx of Parisian elegance to the property in the Lichtentaler Allee. The Parisian newspaper "Estafette" enthused about Baden-Baden as a summertime Paris. "Stéphanie les Bains" became a magnet for French society. The Franco-German war however brought an abrupt end to this. 1872: In an auction, a master tailor by the name of Anton Brenner purchased the hotel and the adjoining land his daughter and her husband, who had previously run the small Hotel Blume. However, after the death of his son-in-law in 1875, it appears that Anton Brenner ran the hotel himself and with great success too as is evident from the illustrious guest list. The spacious house was ideally suited to the aristocracy, who in those days always traveled with a large retinue. 1882: Anton Brenner put his son Camille in charge of running the hotel. With this gifted hotelier at the helm, the hotel rose to the status of a world-class grand hotel Anton Brenner had provided his son with an excellent education. He also made sure his son became a man of the world by encouraging him to travel widely. A contemporary newspaper described Camille Brenner thus: "Like a ruler, obsessed with the passions of collecting and building, he has created a hotel of a totally new dimension. He has lined it with carpets that are the envy and admiration of collectors, and furnished the luxurious apartments with the finest originals and antiques." Camille Brenner laid the groundwork for the modern Brenner's Park-Hotel & Spa and his spirit is still omnipresent throughout the hotel today. 1890: Camille took over fully from his father. 1895: Extensive rebuilding work began. 1900: Completion of the building work. The Villa Imperial, known today as the Villa Augusta, was developed and the neighbouring Palais Stourdza was purchased adding the park, which reached as far as the River Oos. May 1900 saw the opening of the main building's new wing, signifying the start a new era in the hotel's history. Now with over 200 rooms, all furbished to offer the greatest in comfort, the Hotel Stephanie became the illustrious center of the state spa resort of Baden-Baden, which in itself was now one of the leading spa towns. It was a major draw for prominent guests, including Prince Otto von Bismarck, Grand Prince Michael of Russia and Edward Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. One of the most impressive visitors was certainly the Maharaja of Kapurthala, who presented Camille Brenner with a portrait for the guestbook. 1907: King Chulalongkorn of Siam and Laos held court at the Hotel Stéphanie with his considerable retinue. However, it was not only the international aristocracy that frequented the house, but also artists of every genre and representatives of the major banks and great industrialists such as Henry Ford. Americans were always in the majority among the international guests. 1912: Camille Brenner bought the Hotel Minerva but ran into difficulties with the authorities during the rebuilding process, causing the development to be re-planned as a sanatorium. 1914: Camille Brenner died in Cannes, leaving little in the way of inheritance for his widow and five children. The outbreak of war had brought his project in Cannes to an abrupt halt. Camille Brenner had borrowed a considerable amount for the building investment. Augusta Brenner and her son Kurt took over the management of the hotel in Baden Baden. Just like his father Kurt Brenner had benefited from an excellent education and was well prepared for the task ahead. Nevertheless, the hotel closed during World War I, not only because of the departure of the international guests, but also because the majority of the male staff had been called up for military service. 1920: Not until April 1920 had the post-war situation stabilised sufficiently to allow normal hotel operations to resume. Although regular pre-war international guests stayed away, the still famous hotel was soon full again. 1922-24: Augusta Brenner and her five children founded the Brenner's Hotel Stock Corporation, primarily to facilitate inheritance. Kurt and Alfred Brenner followed in their father's footsteps and jointly managed the company. Exactly as their father would have wished, they enhanced the hotel complex, which in 1924, extended from the Bertholdstrasse to the Palais Gagarine. 1927: This year can be regarded as the zenith of the early Brenner's history. Reports in the international press abounded of famous visitors and interesting events. For the Brenner brothers the 20s were golden years. Almost 400 beds were available and some 500 employees attended to the wellbeing of the guests, of whom almost half were American. 1929: What had until this time been seen as a blessing, turned into tragedy when the infamous Black Friday crash putting the Hotel Stock Company into major difficulties. However, even if the Americans stayed away, the rooms did not remain empty. 1930s: The guestbook lists illustrious names of the time, including Franz Léhar, Richard Tauber, Wilhelm Furtwaengler and Professor Sauerbruch. 1933-37: After the reopening of Baden Baden’s casino in 1933, the number of international visitors to the town steadily rose. They now represented 63 percent of all guests at the hotel. The names included celebrities such as Walt Disney, the Prince of Monaco and the Maharaja of Kapurthala, who came with his son. At the height of this all too short upswing, Kurt and Alfred Brenner reached the incredible mark of 40,000 overnight guests in 1937. 1939: World War II hit Brenner's in the middle of a flourishing period. Just a few days after the outbreak of war certain parts of the hotel had to be closed. The Hotel Stéphanie section of the complex had to remain closed for the entire duration of the war due to a lack of personnel. 1941: The Villa Stephanie and the Park-Hotel sections of the complex were able to be reopened with their 65 guest beds. In the same year, the Oetker Family, which had held shares in Brenner's Hotel AG since 1922, became the majority shareholder. 1945: After the war Brenner's served briefly as the headquarters of the French Administration, but then had to be vacated for General Koenig and the Supreme Commander of the French Forces in Germany. The remaining buildings were also impounded. 1949: At the end of September the Park-Hotel was the first of the hotel buildings to be released. General Koenig expressed his appreciation for the involuntarily granted hospitality with the order that the hotel should be restored and opened as quickly as possible. Still, it would be a long hard path for the Brenner Brothers until that time. 1950: On 1 April the Park-Hotel once again re-opened its doors for business. Already in the first year, some 17,000 guests resided at the hotel, with almost half of these coming from abroad. The Park-Hotel regained the success of the past, albeit with only little more than a third of the hotel's pre-war bed capacity. 1955: It took another five years for the main complex to be handed back, but it had sustained such enormous damage that all efforts at restoration failed. 1962: The decision was made to abandon the rescue work with the exception of the hotel wing built in 1900. That year also saw an important summit – see left. French President Charles de Gaulle (left), German Chancellor Dr. Konrad Adenauer, accompanied by both Foreign Ministers, C. de Murville and Dr. Schröder 1969: A great family tradition came to an end. Alfred Brenner retired from the board of the Brenner Hotel KG after 50 years of service in the hotel company founded by his grandfather. The tradition of the Grand Hotel however lives on. All employees at the Brenner's Park-Hotel & Spa feel committed to its heritage. They are aware of the valuable inheritance with which they have been entrusted.

According to the hotel's history pages on the internet, a certain Johann Strauss wrote in the Guest Book in May 1930: "As long as I have been coming to Baden-Baden, and that is for many years since the days of the hospitable Mr. Brenner, I have always been wonderfully cared for here. As an international traveller, I can assure you that one feels more comfortable within these walls than anywhere else. (It was certainly not the Johann Strauss of Vienna Waltz fame and glory).