A little over a year ago, I caught Rodez's historic "Grand Hôtel Broussy" in a good light. I was lucky.Last week, as I passed by on a damp, grey afternoon, the downtown institution wasn't looking so grand:
In fact, I'm wondering if it will ever be "GRAND" again:
I know. No need to press the panic button. Le Grand Hôtel Broussy is only being remodeled, and I'm sure it needs it.
Yet as I saw traces of its bright red past being tossed unceremoniously out its windows, I felt a wave of personal regret. I would never see it in all its delapidated glory.
Or could I glimpse at the interior, before it was too late?
I walked up toward the dusty lobby entrance, where a narrow door was, miraculously, open.
I dared to step in. The lobby was dirty and dreary, with a few pieces of wooden furniture strewn about. An immense dining or breakfast room lay to my right, bereft of furnishings.
Too quickly, a burly worker stomped down the main staircase. He looked at me. I scurried out.
13 comments:
I'm glad you went in and took the last photo. It's beautiful (as is the first one - it's amazing how everything looks prettier against a blue sky). I wonder if they'll keep the mosaic or "remodel" it. I hope they don't replace it with a marble floor or anything like that.
I love reading your blog. It's a piece of journalism I wouldn't have access to otherwise :-)
What a wonderful mosaic floor. I hope it's staying.
The rooms were probably pretty bad to stay in. I hope they keep that great tile work.
Not to worry, I'm sure the mosaic floor is staying. I think the whole building is on the historical register, so I don't think it will lose all of its charm.
Let's just hope they can keep it looking historic and not 'modernize' it too much!
It would help if I remembered what your profile said ('native of Olympia') - of course you lived in Washington! Too many blogs to keep up with!
Salut Betty, I've been reading your blogs and I like them a lot. It's nice to know that other people from Washington State are out and about. :-)
What a change! You were lucky to take this picture before, It;s interesting to see both at the same time to compare.
The first photo is fabulous and the difference is amazing with the second photo.
The tiles do have a certain cracked charm to them. But I am fascinated by the line where the staircase meets the floor. Subsidence or is the lobby on a steep down hill slope? That would have me over in moments after an aperatif...
we had a beautiful song in France saying that "when you see a mermaid die, don't hide your sorrow".
Nous avions une belle chanson en France qui disait "Quand tu vois mourrir une sirène, ne cache pas ta peine'.
Betty I have also a special tenderness toward the old beautiful things.
Betty moi aussi j'ai une tendresse spéciale pour les jolies vieilles choses
kristana
PP, as I said I do think the building is a protected historic monument and that the tile is staying. Let's hope so!
I hope they do not destory the tile entry! In Marseille many beautiufl interiors are torn out...i cannot stand it.
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