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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 Roumanian 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.
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He wanted his hotel to be a hauts lieux 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 |
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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 Ni‘ois.. |
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Hotel Negresco is one of the most exclusive deluxe hotels
in the world on Nice's famous 
