Hôtel Le Bristol Paris
A Roaring-Twenties palace on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, named for an eighteenth-century English traveller — and the first hotel in France to earn the official “Palace” distinction.
At a glance
Le Bristol occupies 112 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, in the 8th arrondissement, on the street of embassies and couture houses near the Élysée Palace. Opened in 1925, it is one of the grande dames of Paris hospitality and part of the Oetker Collection.
History
In 1923 the hotelier Hippolyte Jammet bought the former mansion of Jules de Castellane, intending to make it the most luxurious hotel in the city. Le Bristol opened in April 1925, at the height of the Roaring Twenties. Jammet named it after Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol — an eighteenth-century bishop and traveller famous for demanding the best wherever he went, and whose name was already attached to fine hotels across Europe.
The hotel is today part of the Oetker Collection, the group founded by the Oetker family. In 2011 Le Bristol became the first hotel in France to be awarded the official “Palace” distinction, the state recognition created to mark the country’s very finest establishments.
What you see
Built around the eighteenth-century Castellane property, the hotel keeps a classical French elegance, with a celebrated interior garden — a rare expanse of green hidden behind the Faubourg.
Its address places it among the embassies and haute-couture ateliers that define this stretch of the Right Bank.
Cultural significance
Le Bristol helped define the very idea of the Paris “palace” hotel, and its 2011 distinction made it the first officially recognised as such in France. The name it carries — borrowed from the travelling Earl of Bristol — ties a Jazz-Age Paris landmark back to the golden age of the European Grand Tour.
Key facts
- Opened: April 1925, by the hotelier Hippolyte Jammet
- Name: after Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol (18th-century traveller)
- Location: 112 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 8th arrondissement
- Distinction: first hotel in France awarded the official “Palace” status (2011)
- Group: Oetker Collection
Practical information & getting there
The hotel is on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, near the Élysée. Nearest Métro: Miromesnil (lines 9, 13) or Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau (lines 1, 13). Its restaurants and bar are open to non-residents.
Sources & resources
- Le Bristol Paris — 100 Years of History: oetkerhotels.com/hotels/le-bristol-paris/the-hotel/history
- Sortiraparis — “Le Bristol Paris, a luxury legend”
- Luxus Plus — “Le Bristol, the oldest of Paris’s luxury hotels”
- Connexion France — “Le Bristol: named after an English aristocrat”
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