"What the hell was he going to do with this name? " could have asked Géronte.
"Pelican, but it doesn't There is no Pelican in Annecy! " "A seabird at the edge of 'a lake, we'll have seen it all! "
And yet, the choice of this name appeared to us as obvious and as the respect we owed to this place and its history. Come on, waited enough, we'll tell you everything.
But why The Pelican?
First of all, you should know that the Le Pélican hotel has two buildings.
The first, very contemporary, even futuristic for some, was designed by the famous architect Christian de Portzamparc within the Avant-Scène eco-district.
The second has throne on the shores of Lake Annecy since 1820! In the years that followed, the architect Prosper Dunant took charge of the construction of the first hospital, integrating the buildings of the former Capuchin convent. In order to accommodate more patients, the hospital is undergoing extension work directed by Ignace Monnet. This is when the history of the Pelican truly begins. In order to break the monotony of the facade, Joseph Tavernier commissioned a sculpture of Pelican, intended to be placed on the triangular pediment. A true emblem of charity, the Pelican is known for feeding its young from its entrails. It is this same badge, still present on the top of the facade overlooking the blue lake that guided us to baptize the hotel Le Pélican.
The other symbols
The choice of appellations within Hotel Le Pélican has also been designed around symbols.
We told you about two buildings, let's go into more detail, first of all a little trip back to the past ...
In the old days, it was customary to plant a tree at the opening of any building. Let us take a few examples from Annecy. At the Carnot school, it is a purple beech from 1910 that can be seen at the entrance, at the residence of the Marquisats, it is redwoods which stand proudly and at the hotel Le Pélican, it is a majestic cedar Lebanese one century old and 25 meters high which was the object of a very particular attention and protection during the intense sentence of works of the district. This tree, still in the hotel gardens, must have heard many conversations, it represents the passing of time and the life of this emblematic place so dear to the ancient people. It is therefore natural that the building is named "Le Cèdre".
The contemporary building is called " La Scène " . Why ? Of course in reference to the Avant-Scène architectural project, imagined by Christian de Portzamparc and in the desire for urban planning that respects the landscape context. The new part of the hotel plays on contrasts with its perpendicular lines and pointed windows, while blending in perfectly with the historic building. Overlooking the lake and the mountains, the wing of "La Scène" will quickly become the scene of Annecy life.
Let's go back a little to the majestic cedar where it will also be good to play pétanque in the shade of its branches. Named the historic building Le Cèdre, it seemed reductive to us in the face of the splendor and resilience of this tree. How to put it in perspective again at the hotel Le Pélican? and our seminar rooms? why not single them out? Lebanon, Atlas, Hymalaya, Cyprus, Alaska here they are named after different varieties of Cedar.