Bastille Day, 1900

The building of the Gare d’Orléans and luxury hotel with its ornate limestone facade, was inaugurated on Bastille Day, 1900, to provide convenient access and accommodation for attendees of Universal Exhibition in Paris. This was in an age when travel by train was infinitely preferable to bumping along slowly in a horse-drawn carriage. These trains were electric and the building was luxurious and grand.