'Couple' Majestic and Grand Hotel

Fortunately, this "couple" is still together today, witnessing two beautiful, elegant hotels, at the age of 100. Just a few steps apart, both buildings, located on the corner of two street fronts, have similar architectural styles but different beauties.

M AJESTIC - THE RIVERBANK CASTLE

Modern hotel business is a very new industry in modern Saigon. Among them, the 5-storey Majestic Hotel located at the corner of Catinat Street (Dong Khoi) and Quai de Myre de Villers (Ton Duc Thang) wharf, overlooking the Saigon River, is a typical success story.

Majestic Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

PHOTO: QUYNH TRAN

According to old photos, the top floor of the original structure was left empty with a pergola-style flower trellis. Perhaps the Majestic was the first hotel in Saigon to have an open-air restaurant and cafe on the top floor. This is an interesting place to see the street, the river and the Thu Thiem peninsula from above. On this floor, in the middle of the left and right wings, there are two more tiled-roof towers jutting out, below are large round windows, like the style of the inner palaces of Chinese villas.

Meanwhile, the facades of the remaining floors are decorated with many curved, elaborately carved iron balcony railings. The highlight of the building is the main entrance with a gracefully curved canopy, supporting the embossed letters Majestic . The entrance here is designed as splendidly as a palace door. On both sides of the house are large open windows, located under elegant arches. The sidewalk next to the windows is where tables and chairs are arranged for guests to sit and enjoy the view, in the style of a terrace restaurant in Paris.

The overall appearance of the original building shows French architectural features with Chinese accents similar to the style of the mansion "Uncle Hoa's house" (now the Fine Arts Museum, District 1). Surprisingly, the hotel owner is the family company Hui Bon Hoa.

Immediately after its establishment, the Majestic Hotel, with only 44 rooms, became a favorite destination for French and international tourists, especially when Indochina began to promote tourism strongly abroad. Next to the hotel, on Catinat Street, since 1934, there was a cinema called Majestic Cinema. After 1963, this place was converted into a dance hall and Maxim restaurant, named after a famous brand in Paris.

Since 1948, the Majestic Hotel has been the headquarters of the Indochina Tourism Administration. After 1954, the hotel was renamed Hoan My in Vietnamese, along with the Majestic name. From the late 1950s to 1990, the hotel building was modified and upgraded many times. After 1975, the Majestic Hotel welcomed many famous people such as French President Francois Mitterrand, Belgian King Leopold, British Duke Andrew, French star Catherine Deneuve, etc.

Since 2003, the Majestic Hotel has been expanded to the right, using the 8-storey building next door. The newly acquired building has been renovated to have a facade similar to the old building. In 2019, the Majestic Hotel was further expanded to Nguyen Hue Street.

G RAND H OTEL ANTIQUE AND ELEGANT

Very close to Majestic, only about 100 meters away, the 4-storey Grand Hotel is located at the "bow" of the Catinat and Vannier (Ngo Duc Ke) intersection. Standing out on the top floor is a soaring, snow-white dome, reminiscent of the famous Sacré Coeur de Montmartre church in Paris. It is the large bell dome style of Roman Catholic church architecture. This design makes the Grand Hotel the hotel with the tallest tower and a unique style in Saigon at that time.

Postcard of the Grand Hotel in the 1930s, when it was called Saigon Palace

PHOTO: COLLECTION BY NGUYEN DAI HUNG LOC

From the dome down to the ground is a curved architectural block in the shape of a tower tube, divided into 4 floors. Except for the ground floor, each floor has 3 large window frames, creating a liberal and graceful look. The floor below the dome has an additional balcony with wind flowers made of deep blue ceramic. Both the left and right wings have balconies with canopies with wind flowers in the same style. Notably, the canopies are tiled, in an Asian style. Most of the facades of the second and third floors do not have balconies, instead there are tall and wide window frames. The whole building, although massive, gives an elegant impression.

Grand Hotel is a project invested by French expatriates in Indochina. At times, the hotel was named Saigon Palace (1937), Saigon Dai Lu Quan (1958), Dong Khoi (after April 1975), and has had a combined old and new name, Grand Saigon Hotel, since 1985. Since 2007, the hotel has been expanded towards Ho Huan Nghiep Street (the French name was Turc). The new hotel building is up to 20 floors, but the exterior is very reasonable, designed to imitate the style of the old building.

To date, Grand Saigon Hotel is a large hotel with more than 250 rooms and many restaurants, cafes on the ground floor and rooftop. Currently, both Majestic and Grand Saigon hotels are under the management of Saigon Tourist Corporation, worthy of being a "couple" of ancient and high-class tourist castles. (continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cap-doi-majestic-va-grand-hotel-1852504172309366.htm