© RTL
Once a prestigious hotel frequented by royalty and historic figures, Mondorf-les-Bains' Grand-Chef now stands abandoned after the collapse of a major housing project, leaving buyers in limbo and the municipality fighting to preserve what remains of its cultural heritage.
The Grand-Chef was set to become part of a major housing project featuring 90 new units – two-thirds of which had already been sold when the developer behind the project filed for bankruptcy.
The plan involved renovating the former hotel and constructing two additional buildings to house both residential units and commercial spaces.
A grand past, a grim present
The Grand-Chef, located at the entrance to the Mondorf-les-Bains thermal spa complex, opened in 1851. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, it hosted royalty, musicians, and political figures alike – among them Ravel, Rubinstein, and Jean Monnet. The hotel was once a major tourist draw. Today, however, it stands as a shell of its former self: a historic landmark left gutted and deteriorating, with the developer’s insolvency halting all progress and leaving little more than a crumbling carcass behind.
Only the exterior walls of the Grand-Chef remain. The building has been entirely stripped out. Imagining members of high society strolling through its halls or sipping herbal tea after a spa treatment, as they once did, is now nearly impossible.
The inside has been gutted so thoroughly that the building seems to have lost its soul. For Mayor Steve Reckel of Mondorf-les-Bains, the situation is deeply frustrating. He explains that the municipality had invested a great deal of time and effort in the project, working closely with architects and engineers. Given the hotel's prestige and legacy in the municipality, he insists it should not be left to decay – and yet, it now borders on ruin.
Ambitious plans, abrupt end
The project was of great interest to the municipality, not only because of the 17 planned apartments in the former hotel, but also because of the additional housing units in new adjoining buildings. In total, the plan involved 90 flats, along with space for a shared medical practice. The Social Housing Agency had a 10% stake in one of the new buildings.
However, the project ground to a halt when the head of Farei Services, the development company, passed away. The company soon filed for bankruptcy, and a court-appointed receiver has since taken over. Due to legal constraints, no interior photos of the property were allowed. Meanwhile, buyers, some of whom purchased units as far back as five years ago, are left in limbo. Several shared their concerns off camera.
According to Reckel, around two-thirds of the flats had already been sold. The current owners of the unfinished units are now organising themselves to form a co-ownership syndicate. One affected buyer confirmed to RTL that the group is planning to meet with the bank that provided the construction completion guarantee.
A future still possible?
Seventeen flats were intended to be housed within the hotel itself, and all necessary permits had already been granted. Could the municipality take over the project? It’s unlikely, says Reckel. He explained that the municipality had previously asked the state – when the hotel was originally put up for sale – whether it might be interested in acquiring the property. That approach has been repeated more recently, and a formal request has now been submitted to Minister of Culture Eric Thill to have the Grand-Chef listed as a protected national monument.
Given its prime location next to the Domaine Thermal, officials believe there is strong potential for future synergies between the site and the spa complex.
The Grand-Chef already has local heritage protection status, and in December last year, the municipality formally asked Culture Minister Thill to extend this to national status. They are still awaiting a response.
The aim is to ensure that the Grand-Chef does not disappear like the former Art Deco "Palace Hôtel", where Marshall of the Reich Hermann Göring was briefly held as an involuntary guest in 1945. That historic hotel was eventually demolished to make way for the concrete structure of today’s Mondorf Parc Hotel.
