Galerie Gangloff
1904
The hotel’s history is linked to the history of the city and its inhabitants. In 1903, Monsieur Henri Gangloff, alongside architect Louis Schwartz, decided to unify the roofs of the building and install the famous Galerie Gangloff, the library, an antiques shop and a framing workshop. On the second floor, the Braun brothers, illustrious tenants, installed their own photography workshop where they developed photographs of their numerous voyages.
The private apartments were on the third floor, with eight attics made for the 8 children of the family who was living there.
Turbulent times
1917
The building was requisitioned for war damage.
L’Hôtel du Parc
1926
Hôtel du Parc opened its doors in front of Mulhouse Theatre and Parc Steinbach, just a few minutes away from the Thirteenth-century fortification wall. It was made up by three adjoining houses and the famous Gangloff Library, dating back to 1904.
The architect Louis Schwartz gave this ensemble a stunning Neoclassical facade, with sculptures and stone of the highest quality that put it on the same level as the most beautiful Parisian buildings of the time.
Since then, the hotel had four floors and was almost 10,000 ft2 in size per floor, thus becoming a regular meeting point.
It became the most exclusive spot in the city and the Mulhouse region, enjoying long years of lavishness and a celebrity clientele, which you can see in the hotel’s guest book.
Hôtel du Parc belonged to the Mulhouse Hotel Society, the majority of which was owned by local industrialists.
The Schlumpf family
1971
This luxurious hotel, a meeting point for businessmen, became property of the Schlumpf brothers in May 1971. Fritz Schlumpf had carried out the first part of his old dream, a dream that he had since the brothers lived with their mother on 22 rue de la Sinne, in an apartment overlooking Hôtel du Parc.
The other part of the dream was the future that Fritz Schlumpf had devised for Hôtel du Parc, in connection with the opening of the Automobile Museum. For this reason, the hotel was closed for renovations. Fritz Schlumpf actively participated with the works, wanting to give them a new style.
The renovation works took many years.
A waiting period
1979
In July 1979, after the liquidation of assets belonging to the Schlumpf brothers, the works were stopped and the hotel remained unoccupied.
Auctioned
1984
The Schlumpf empire was practically over. After the factories, the museum and the villa, it was Hôtel du Parc’s turn at the public auction.
On May 24th, at 3.42 p.m., there was still no buyer as nobody accepted the reserve price.
The hotel was still on sale.
Renovations
1985
In June 1985, the auction sale of the old palace made the local headlines. Locals, delighted with the renaissance of the palace, attended the sale of a building that was “Mulhouse’s Negresco” during the interwar period.
A major investment project got underway. Works lasted for three years.
The renaissance
1988
On March 15th 1988, the prestigious Hôtel du Parc finally reopened, true to the spirit of the Roaring Twenties yet fully adapted to the demands of the great hotel of the three borders, once again becoming the main meeting point in Mulhouse.
