The Promenade des Anglais, is one of the most famous waterfront promenades in the world. The approximately six kilometers long street is unfortunately also a main traffic artery of the city and so there is always busy traffic. Among other things, the famous luxury hotel Negresco is located here.
A promenade for the English holidaymakers
The history of the Promenade de Anglais goes back, as the name suggests, to the English. Tobias Smollet, a Scottish writer, spent some days in Nice in the year 1763. After he wrote a book about his stay, countless Englishmen came to the coast to spend their holidays or the winter there.
Thus, a real building boom started. Among others, the British also laid a coastal promenade in the year 1822 that got the name Promenade des Anglais in the year 1844. A collection of Reverend Lewis Way made the construction of the promenade possible.
Hôtel Negresco and Palais Masséna
One of the most famous buildings at the promenade is the Hôtel Negresco. It was built according to an idea of a waiter from Bucharest, Henry Negresco. He was able to win a French industrialist as financier for his plan to build the most exclusive and best hotel on the entire coast. The Negresco was opened shortly before the start of the First World War and before it could achieve fame, it had to serve as a military hospital.
Henry Negresco died in 1920 and did not live to see his house become the first hotel on the square. In 1957, the local Augier family bought the hotel and glamorous times began. Many famous personalities stayed at the Negresco.
Right next door is the Palais Masséna, once built as a residence for a grandson of Napoleonic General André Masséna. Today the palace houses the Musée d'Art et d`Histoire.
