THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF AN EMBLEMATIC HOTEL IN LA ROCHELLE

Once upon a time there was a man, Michel Dufour, architect winner of the First Grand Prix of Rome and entrusted by André Malraux with the delimitation of the Sector Saved of La Rochelle. Once upon a time, a few years later, the Hotel Saint-Nicolas was built. At a time when this real Rochelaise institution is blowing its 40 candles, back on some key dates.

1966. Michel Dufour takes his Rochelais quarters in the villa Fort-Louis lent by the Town Hall. There, in the heart of the Franck-Delmas park, the architect develops his mission for the delimitation of the Protected Sector of the City and the elaboration of the Permanent Plan of Development and Safeguarding. In the early 1970s, he designed the first Rochelaises pedestrian streets such as Rue du Temple, Rue Saint-Sauveur or Rue du Port. He is also in charge of widening the sidewalks of Quai Duperré, which he will follow.

1971. Michel Dufour set up his own business and devoted himself almost exclusively to renovation projects in downtown La Rochelle.

1980. After the acquisition of a plot of land in the Saint-Nicolas district, precisely at the corner of Place de la Solette and Rue Sardinerie, the architect became a promoter and launched the creation of a 29-room hotel: the Saint-Nicolas.

1981. Inauguration of our hotel in La Rochelle. With the burgeoning growth of tourism in the port city, other hotel establishments are also emerging or taking advantage of it to modernize. Dufour and his daughters spared no effort to make the Hotel Saint-Nicolas known to passing visitors.

1986. Expansion of the hotel which takes its current configuration and offers 79 rooms along the Place de la Solette.

2010. After the purchase of a ruined building on the same square, an annex with 7 additional bedrooms and a second meeting room opens. Today, the Hotel Saint-Nicolas offers 86 rooms to a clientele who can enjoy the pedestrian atmosphere of the area and the proximity to the Old Port.

2021. Hotel Saint-Nicolas turns 40: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!