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Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Montreux: Much More Than A Famous Jazz Festival
Beloved Montreux resident, Freddie Mercury is immortalized on Lake Geneva. Credit: Maude Rion The small Swiss city of Montreux on Lake Geneva is famously linked to its legendary July jazz festival. The grand event can serve, though, as a launching platform for plenty more themes and sites to explore here along what they call the Montreux Riviera, and venturing up to the stunning Prealps that loom right over the city. With lush Mediterranean landscaping along miles of its lakefront promenade, Montreux proper is as invitingly walkable a city as you'll find. As a central starting point, the handsome Marché Couvert de Montreux is a fine late-19th-century Beaux Arts covered market that was funded by Henri Nestlé and constructed in Eiffel-like iron. When big markets, concerts and other public events aren't scheduled under its wooden roof, you might just find, say, a local yoga group enjoying a session as you wander through the space. Right next to the market, you can't miss Montreux's selfie spot non-pareil in the form of the mega-popular Freddie Mercury statue. Cast in bronze, the inimitable rock star holds one of his iconic poses of one arm thrust in the air, microphone stand in the other. Built right over Lake Geneva, medieval Chillon Castle long guarded access through the Alps. Credit: stephan wiesner Had you not been aware of the deep relationship the Queen frontman had to the city, you'll certainly be prompted to explore the fine small exhibition in the Montreux Casino that is devoted to him and his cohorts. Queen the Studio Experience takes up space that was once Mountain Studios where the band recorded six albums. Among fantastical costumes, there's even a full mixing board at which you can try out your musical skills. Those interested in a comprehensive Mercury experience can book the Freddie Tour, walking journeys of several lengths along which the live guide's narrative is accompanied by an audio/visual component with song and video clips. Next to the casino, an architectural curiosity soars over this low-rise town. An incongruous 25-story tower seen from all city vantage points, the Tour d'Ivoire residential building is on close inspection worthy of its landmark protection status for its sleek 1960s Modernist lines and wing- or sail-like balconies. Travel less than two miles further down the lakefront in this French-speaking canton of Vaud and you're taken from the modern rock era back to a literal rock era. Built on a jut of a rock sticking up from the water, Chillon Castle is an imposing medieval stone fortress whose unique oval shape conforms to the islet upon which it sits. The origin of its very name is even derived from an old Waldensian language word for rock. The Fairmont Le Montreux Palace is one of several Belle Époque hotels overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreux. Credit: Mettler With three full courtyards and mazes of tunnels and buildings, Chillon was brilliantly designed to bamboozle any invaders who managed to enter. For centuries, you didn't pass here without paying a toll to the House of Savoy, but by the mid-16th century Bernese army forces had indeed managed to take over. With enormous wood-paneled banquet and meeting halls, a vast prison below, and a soaring watchtower with lake and mountain views that would set a real estate agent on fire, the fortress is absolutely worthy of relying on the audioguide. Chillon is simply too immense and rich in history to conquer without the more than forty excellently produced narrative tracks that let you profit the most from your time here. In Chillon-related popular culture, Lord Byron composed a poem, 'The Prisoner of Chillon,' while Delacroix painted a theme of the same name. Taking us back to the Montreux Jazz Festival, the great pianist Bill Evans used the castle on the cover of his live album recorded at the second iteration of the festival in 1968. After a few hours going up and down medieval parapets, you'll welcome a refreshment stop just outside the gates at the Café Byron. And then you may wish to cross the lakefront road to a fortress of another kind built right into the steep mountain face. The WWII-era defensive bunker system with anti-tank guns, also named Fort Chillon, has been turned into a popular museum. Back in Montreux proper, a number of stately Belle Époque hotels face the water. The Grand Hôtel Suisse Majestic is often described as Wes Anderson-ish, while the Eden Palace au Lac right by the casino certainly has equally as many stories to tell of well more than a century's-worth of high society hijinks. La Terrasse du Petit Palais makes for delightful open air lakefront dining at the 1906 Fairmont Le Montreux Palace hotel, while its indoor Montreux Jazz Café features a fine dining menu, despite its casual name. The lively Funky Claude's Bar takes its name in homage to Claude Nobs, the late founder of the jazz festival. The Rochers de Naye cogwheel railway rises in no time from Montreux on Lake Geneva up to the Prealps. Credit: VALENTIN FLAURAUD/ Switzerland's excellent public transportation system makes going up and down the lakefront a breeze, especially with the unlimited Swiss Travel Pass. To go even higher, there's the sheer fun of chugging up the switchbacks of the cogwheel railway (it's not a funicular, as you might assume) that goes up to 6,700-foot Rochers-de-Naye peak. Along the way, stop at 3,800 feet where Le CouCou in Caux hamlet is as Alpine a chalet restaurant as you'd ever imagine. It may be remote, but it's known far and wide for its comfy setting of wooden plank floors, fireplaces and booth seating on plush crimson banquettes. Either indoor or on terraces, diners enjoy regional produce and wines from the Lavaux terraces down by the lake. It's all the epitome of Swiss comfort food, from lamb shanks in a spiced sauce to the hash brown-like rösti with Gruyère, or fondue with Champagne and truffles. They also operate the small Tralala hotel in the Montreux old town, which is designed around the theme of musical artists who've helped make the city famous. That main theme is everywhere. A minute away from Le CouCou, the late Claude Nob's whimsical chalet home is open on occasion for events. Stuffed in room after room, gift memorabilia from rock and jazz stars includes personal outfits, guitars and pianos, and art work by Ronnie Woods and others. Then, there are jukeboxes, pinball machines, tchotchkes galore, and large-scale model trains lining entire walls. It's the adult playroom you wish you had. The Montreux Jazz Festival has long been much more than jazz, with major rock acts on the scene since the early days. This year's festival runs from July 4-19, and will include, among other major stars, Chaka Khan in a tribute to the late friend of the festival, Quincy Jones.
Vogue
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
The Gilded Age 101: What Is Beaux-Arts Architecture?
For those who fantasize about time traveling to witness the Gilded Age's most sumptuous spectacles, Beaux-Arts architecture offers a tangible glimpse. The style originated in 19th-century France and eventually rose to prominence in the United States in metropolitan areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It's a fantasia of classicism and grandeur, swirling together the symmetry and proportions from ancient Roman and Greek architecture with the elaborate ornamentation of French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Beaux-Arts became a particular favorite architectural style for government and civic buildings, such as museums and libraries, but also of private mansions for the elite few tycoons who could afford such an extravagance. Beaux-Arts eventually waned in popularity by the time the Great Depression struck, but its lasting impact can be felt in masterpieces like Opéra Garnier in Paris and Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal. The New York Public Library in Manhattan. With the Gilded Age season 3 premiere on June 22, take the opportunity to brush up on the architectural style that became synonymous with the epoch's unapologetic grandiosity. What is Beaux-Arts Architecture? Beaux-Arts architecture is a classical, opulent style that emerged in Paris during the 19th century and later spread to the United States and other parts of the world. Exacting in principles such as symmetry, and elaborate in areas of ornamentation, Beaux-Arts draws influences from ancient Greek and Roman structures as well as the grandeur of French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque. History of Beaux-Arts Beaux-Arts architecture takes its name from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, an academy where four ambitious students—Félix Duban, Joseph-Louis Duc, Henri Labrouste and Léon Vaudoyer—challenged the status quo of a centuries-old institution and paved the way for a new architectural style to rise in France by the mid-1800s. Weaving together elements of Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque, and occasionally Gothic architecture, Beaux-Arts was both adopted and praised, with important commissions coming from high-ranking members of society like King Louis Philippe. Among the chief goals of this new style was to create a national character through architecture. But Beaux-Arts eventually made its way across the Atlantic, sweeping across the United States and embodying what is now known as the American Renaissance. The reason for this is largely the US students who attended École des Beaux-Arts, with Richard Morris Hunt as the first American admitted to the academy in 1846.
San Francisco Chronicle
25-05-2025
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
Golden Gate Park's WWI monument finally gets recognition, a century after armistice
Heroes Grove, the World War I monument hidden in a redwood grove in Golden Gate Park, has always been impossible to find. But everybody can find the Rose Garden next to it, and now Ken Maley, a non-veteran San Francisco parks devotee, has found a way to link the two attractions. Maley, who is 80 and lives across town on Telegraph Hill, arranged to have a one-ton granite boulder trucked in to the entrance to the Rose Garden at John F. Kennedy Drive. It is engraved like a tombstone with the words 'Heroes Grove' and inlaid with a QR code that he says is a first for any monument or memorial in the park. The QR code works through a smartphone to access the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department website, which then gives a detailed history and description of the World War I memorial along with a park map and walking directions to the monument. The stone marker, which was trucked in from a quarry just last week, was installed in time for Memorial Day, and on Sunday morning Maley was sitting discreetly on a green park bench near it, waiting to see if it would attract enough attention to send people up the trail behind it and onto a 10-minute nature walk through redwoods to Heroes Grove. 'I've watched people look at the QR code and walk up the trail,' said Maley, who is project director of the Veterans Commemorative Committee and has put 10 years and a $50,000 budget into installing the first signage to Heroes Grove since it was dedicated on Memorial Day 1919. 'I just felt that 100 years after the war people should understand that we have this living memorial to it.' Heroes Grove, which began as public sentiment for planting a grove of coast redwoods to those who served, predates the city's main monument to the Great War — the War Memorial War Memorial Veterans Building and Opera House. Its grand opening in 1932 was to feature a granite monument in the courtyard between the two buildings, contributed by the Gold Star Mothers. The 9-foot pillar was engraved with the names of 820 men and women from San Francisco. But the big oblong rock was judged to be incompatible to the Beaux Arts elegance of the Opera House and Veterans Building, so it was banished to the park, where it went completely unmarked for 100 years. Among those who did not know Heroes Grove existed was Maj. Gen. Mike Myatt, a longtime member of the Board of Trustees for the War Memorial, who served on Maley's board. Myatt was president and CEO of Marines Memorial when Maley drove him out on a field trip. 'It really moved me when you started looking at the names,' Myatt said, 'But I could see how nobody could find it and if they found it they wouldn't know what it was.' On Memorial Day 2019, Maley and his committee got a boulder that is 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall installed along JFK Drive in a ceremony that included a color guard and veterans in World War I uniforms. The rock is easy to spot from JFK Drive, but there has never been an arrow or obvious path from there to the grove itself, and most people who see it are on bikes or running down the path toward Ocean Beach and not inclined to stop and investigate. 'It is amazing and so peaceful here, but I never see anyone looking at the monument,' said Julie Purnell, who lives in the Richmond District and runs her dog along the pathway. 'It is right off Fulton Street, and nobody knows it is here.' In hopes of applying a lure, Maley last week had that stone marker on JFK also embedded with a QR code that was drilled into the rock and is the size of a compact disc. 'It's the new wave of 'interpretive' in our park system,' Maley said. 'This is the pilot project.' It worked with Sunset District resident James Larkin and his wife, Felicia Lee. 'When we saw the stone marked 'Heroes Grove,'' Larkin said, 'I thought, 'What heroes are we talking about? Is it 9/11? World War II?' They were intrigued enough to investigate and follow the path in from JFK Drive, through the memorial and down to the Rose Garden where the path delivered them next to the bench that Maley was sitting on. 'It's spectacular,' Lee said. 'We loved walking through there and getting a hit of nature and a hit of history.' While conducting his surveillance, Maley overheard one couple look at the rock in passing and exclaim 'Oh, it's called Heroes Grove.' That made it all worthwhile. 'For 100 years, people didn't call it anything,' Maley said. Bruce and Kerry Grigson, visitors from Australia, knew all about Gallipoli but not about American involvement in the Great War or that they happened to be visiting on Memorial Day weekend. They felt compelled to follow the path from the Rose Garden to Heroes Grove. 'It's a bit of a privilege to be here on memorial weekend,' Grigson said, while standing at the memorial reading the engraving. 'It's amazing. I didn't know any of this.' Maj. Gen. Myatt, who is 84 and retired in Sonoma, plans to come down with his iPhone and activate the code next week when has a medical appointment at the VA hospital. 'Then I can show it to my wife and anybody who comes along,' he said. 'It's a piece of history that says something about the people of San Francisco.'
Style Blueprint
21-05-2025
- Style Blueprint
Chattanooga Choo Choo's Hotel Chalet is My Favorite Solocation Spot
Share with your friends! Pinterest LinkedIn Email Flipboard Reddit During a recent solocation to Chattanooga, TN, I finally checked a long-standing item off my travel bucket list: a stay at The Hotel Chalet. Nestled in the heart of Downtown Chattanooga, this boutique gem at Chattanooga Choo Choo offers a lodging experience that's anything but ordinary. Pin Pin Part of the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo campus, The Hotel Chalet blends rich railroad history with chic design. Perhaps the most buzzed-about feature? The refurbished train carriage rooms, which offer guests the chance to sleep in a luxe railcar. While I didn't book a train room this time, my Chalet King room didn't disappoint. Styled with jewel-toned mid-century modern decor, the space felt instantly calming, perfect for a solo retreat. Pin Pin On site is Elsie's Daughter, a moody, elegant restaurant where I was lucky to snag a seat at the bar on a busy Saturday night (SB Tip: Be sure to make your reservations in advance!). The restaurant's name is a charming nod to history: Donn Barber (the architect behind Terminal Station) and his wife Elsie had a daughter named Elsie, who later named her daughter Elsie. Hence, Elsie's Daughter. Pin The restaurant leans into Barber's Beaux Arts aesthetic while serving up French-Belgian fare with an Appalachian twist. It felt more like dining in a well-appointed living room than a bustling eatery — warm lighting, layered textures, and rich flavors made for an unforgettable meal. Pin I happened to visit during an unseasonably warm March weekend and loved seeing guests take advantage of the Alpine pool. Surrounded by lush greenery and tucked away from the hum of downtown, it's a chic little oasis that adds a touch of European resort energy to the Southern setting. Pin Whether you're in town for adventure, relaxation, or a bit of both, The Hotel Chalet manages to make even a quick getaway feel intentional and elevated. This charming spot is well worth the hype — and a return visit. For another boutique stay, check out The Horse Shoe Farm in Hendersonville, NC! Cheers to your next solocation! ********** Subscribe to StyleBlueprint for more travel inspiration! About the Author Kate Feinberg Kate Feinberg is StyleBlueprint's Associate Editor & Sponsored Content Specialist, based in Nashville. Kate is a plant-based foodie, avid runner, and fantasy reader.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
These one-of-a-kind OKC townhomes got an incredible new look for Symphony Show House
During the 1890s, known as the Gilded Age, Oklahoma City was just a frontier town, but a set of European, Beaux-Arts-inspired townhomes paying homage to the era are set to open for a public tour. Inspired by the work of late American architect Ogden Codman Jr. in the early 1900s, Richard R. Brown Associates President and Architect Rick Brown designed the townhomes in 2023 at 6100 NW Grand Blvd. "They were trying to recreate what his vision was," said Joan Bryant, nonprofit spokesperson for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and OKC Orchestra League, which will host the 52nd Symphony Show House May 10-25 on the property. The townhomes are unique to Oklahoma City. Set near the Nichols Hills area, the development followed the blueprints of Codman's former home, which he designed for his wife, Leila Howard Griswold Webb, at 15 E. 51st St. in New York City a few years prior to their marriage in 1904, according to the Historic New England, a historic preservation organization. Interior designers decorating the home said the home's natural lighting, carved trimmings, curved archways and focus on symmetry were a nod to Codman's elaborate style. J. Mark Taylor, owner and licensed interior designer of Traditional Interior Design & Furnishings and Show House chair, decorated the drawing room, the entrance corridor, a bathroom and a secondary bedroom on the top floor. Taylor said the home distinguishes itself from other homes with its attention to detail, 12-foot ceilings and flow from room to room and exterior to interior. 'It invokes a feeling of grandeur,' he said. 'Everything I'm trying to do is to play on that and lift that higher.' Listings for one of the townhomes at 6119 NW Grand Blvd., priced at $3.7 million, describe a revitalization of the Gilded Age, exhibiting a 'cosmopolitan way of life' in a prime location, complete with extravagant finishes, like three signed Baccarat chandeliers and a La Cornue range. A 6,690-square-foot townhouse, the main Show House for the annual fundraising event benefiting the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, features a layout true to the era that inspired the property. The second floor features a side for men and a side for women, and the top floor includes a "Jack and Jill" styled floor layout with additional bedrooms for children or guests, its own kitchenette and a bonus space area. Look at 2024 Symphony Show House: The 2024 Symphony Show House was a 1936 white-columned, Georgian mansion Among designers included in this year's Show House are Amini's Galleria, Cory Lloyd & Co., Henry Home Interiors, Holly Flinton Design, Jenny Jarrard Interiors, William & Lauren, Kirby Home Designs, Loree Johns Interiors, Mathis Design Studio, Off the Wall Interiors by Ronette and Tin Lizzie's. All items selected inside the home will come with a price tag, said Bryant, who added the event not only gives local designers a chance to display their work but also to sell items used for interior designs. Prices of these items can range from very little to a lot, she added. Cassie Pastor with Oklahoma City Philharmonic said the Show House highlights the architectural features of the property every year, such as the hand-welded staircase in the Grand Boulevard townhomes. "We really are just highlighting this particular home's story," she said. "We want to focus on the history of the home, why it's special, what are the designers going to bring in to give it new life? What is that going to be like? That's how we approach it." Codman believed every house decoration should be seen as "a vital part of architectural expression, as part of the architectural order of the house itself," he argued in the book he co-wrote with Edith Wharton, "The Decoration of Houses," published in 1897, according to Historic New England. The architect designed the interiors of the Kykuit, also known as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, in 1909, according to the Rockefeller Brother Fund. His style included adding English furnishings, Chinese and European ceramics, and portraits of family and of American presidents, the philanthropic organization states. True to Codman's work, Taylor filled the first-floor room with fine China, porcelain, reimagined antique furniture and gilded pieces. He placed furniture carefully, keeping with the home's symmetry. Among the most important elements he kept in mind during the process was distributing the green, gold and pastel color palette evenly throughout the room. On the third floor, where Taylor designed Guest Room B, one of three rooms on the highest level of the townhomes, he honed his design from below, adding more feminine, bright colors, such as a pink accent wall. "Here, I just wanted happy color," he said. Les Beaux-Arts, French for the beautiful arts, stands out from other European-style homes, according to experts. It's high-style, classical, clean cut, sophistication and formality set it apart from other architecture, which usually portrays countryside or Tuscan-styled designs, according to Keven Carl, owner of Mister Robert and her designer, Cassidy Brunsteter, both of whom have degrees in interior design and are licensed practicing interior designers. It was during their college education where they learned of Codman's work. "We learn a lot of those things that you would have missed, otherwise," Carl said. "We learned a lot of his elements, then." Tasked with decorating the hallway leading to the master suite, the primary bedroom, bathroom and sitting room, the Mister Robert designers wanted to capture the home's French feel. They hung artwork capturing foreign countries, like a portrait of a French flower market and a painting of a European street. Inside the sitting room, commonly used as an intimate space for women in the early 1900s, Carl and Brunsteter depicted a modern Parisian interior with touches of century-old pieces. On a living room table, a "Paris Chic" design book laid atop of a small pile. Sheer curtains with canvas leaves draped over the home's large windows left natural lighting in the room, true to Codman's work. In the corner of the room, an antique secretary desk revealed a small writing table. Brunsteter chose the antique furniture piece to celebrate the period when the original home was built. "To me, that just came to mind, immediately, because when you think of movies or shows set in that era, I feel like you imagine women perched on a little seat, you know, in extravagant dresses and everything," she said. "It certainly was a time women wrote letters." Mister Robert, a family-owned interior design company based in Norman, has been working with the nonprofit for around 30 years. "I grew up in the business," Carl said, adding that she seldomly designed homes with the kind of architecture in the NW Grand Boulevard townhome. Brunsteter added that the owners of the home praised them for keeping true to the original blueprint, despite the lack of privacy given to the primary bedroom, which has no doors. Future owners, she said, might want to switch the functions of the sitting room and the primary bedroom. "It's sort of left to interpretation," she said. At the other end of the property, at 6099 NW Grand Boulevard, developers modernized the layout of the rooms inside one of the properties also included in this year's Symphony Show House event. Inside, Kari López, of LOREC Ranch, filled the rooms with the Edmond-based company's Western-styled interiors. She highlighted the gilding and views of the home. Touches of gold and white hues pop out in her selected decor and furniture to signal Codman's influence. "We call this 'The Sanctuary of Opulence and Comfort,' because we feel the third floor ― it's such a luxurious residence and it just reflects an area for relaxation and reading," she said. Like Codman, López — a physician by trade — lived in Europe, falling in love with its architecture, cuisine and museums. Originally from Wisconsin, she learned about Oklahoma's history while teaching as a professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. "I learned a lot about Oklahoma, you know, the tip of a hat, the look in the eye, the shake of a hand — that cowboy spirit," she said. As she does with so many of her clients' homes, she added pieces to the townhomes to bring that history to life inside the Beaux-Arts-inspired homes. For around the last seven years, López has participated in the Symphony Show House events, not only to showcase the work of LOREC Ranch, the company that designed Reba McEntire's restaurant in Atoka, but also to help student organizations, like the OKC Orchestra League. "My true love and passion is the ability to fund educational programs for the students of music and giving the opportunity to understand the symphony and go to programs in the summer," she said. When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 10-25 Where: 6119 NW Grand Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73118 Tickets: This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 52nd Symphony Show House will be held at these unique OKC townhomes
