The Hotel Kurhaus Bergün was planned when the Albula railway line (from Thusis to St. Moritz) was opened in 1903. Designed by the well-known architect Jost Franz Huwyler-Boller from Zurich and completed in 1906, the Grand Hotel Kurhaus was an attempt to establish Bergün as a climatic health resort and a destination for tourism. However, in spite of the luxurious ambience and the most modern facilities of the time, the hotel was never an economic success and had to struggle for its existence from the very beginning.
In 1949, the Kurhaus was closed down after a fire destroyed large parts of the top floor and the roof, and it was unclear whether the hotel would reopen again at all. Starting in 1952, the Swiss Association for Family Hostels (Schweizerische Vereinigung für Familienherbergen) successfully established the Kurhaus Bergün as an inexpensive holiday destination for families, combining the former hotel rooms to modest apartments and renting them for a weekly fare. During the next 50 years, hardly any maintenance work was done. Years later, in the process of restoration, this proved to be a lucky chance, since the original substance of the building had been left largely unchanged.
In 2002, the run-down hotel was bound to close. A group of regular guests, not willing to witness the downfall of their year-long holiday destination, founded the corporation Kurhaus Bergün AG and started to restore the building step by step, conserving the historic monument and skillfully polishing off the dust from this gem of the Jugenstil era, making it shine for the coming decades.
After restoring most of the public rooms to their original looks and purposes – most noteworthy, the dining hall (“Speisesaal”) with its sky blue ceiling and typical Jugendstil paintings – a number of hotel rooms were equipped with a modern bathroom unit. In 2006, some of the original Kurhaus furniture was reconstructed and rebuilt in Vietnam, and now contribute in no small way to recreate the atmosphere of the old days.
Recent awards and milestones:
- 2007: Award from the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for the unique Jugendstil lamp ensemble
- 2009: Member of the association “Swiss Historic Hotels”
- 2010: Restoration and reopening of the historic cinema and bar
- 2012: Hotel of the year, awarded by ICOMOS Switzerland
- 2017: Countryside Hotel of the year, Historic Hotels of Europe
