Carlton Hotel
The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel...

"On the large avenue leading from the airport to the city along the seashore, the Carlton spreads its facade along the corniche which surrounds the new residential parts of Beirut. The Carlton was constructed in such a manner that all rooms face the sea giving equal opportunity to enjoy the splendid scenery.” - Unknown

The Carlton Hotel was designed by the modernist Polish architect Karol Schayer in 1957 and built along the Corniche in Beirut, Lebanon. Decorated by Michel Harmouche, the lobby’s dominant color was pink with fine furnishings imported from Europe. Its distinctive bean-shaped swimming pool and the rooms’ splendid views of the Mediterranean set it apart as a luxury hotel. The hotel’s superior French cuisine and candlelit dining room especially was a point of pride. 

The hotel opened its doors in February 1960 to the glittering cultural elite of the region, wealthy tourists, and international diplomats. Throughout the 1975-1990 civil war, the hotel’s guests included journalists and political figures, but it eventually succumbed to a compromised tourism industry and poor local economy, and could not recover after the war. In 2008, the Carlton Hotel was sold to real estate developers to be destroyed and a three-tower residential complex to be built in its stead under the name “Carlton Residence.”

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The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel...
The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel... The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel... The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel... The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel... The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel... The Last Days of the Carlton Hotel...