The Peninsula Paris is a historic luxury hotel and also part of the Palaces de France originally known as the Hotel Majestic, located on Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It opened in 1908 as the Hotel Majestic and was converted to government offices in 1936. The hotel served as a field hospital for wounded officers during World War I, staffed largely by British aristocrats. During World War II, it served as the headquarters of the German military high command in France during the German occupation of Paris. The building played a pivotal role in the deportation of Parisian Jews and the 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. The building reopened as The Peninsula Paris in August 2014, following a complicated and costly restoration.
In the post war-era The Majestic served as the first headquarters of UNESCO, from September 16, 1946 until 1958, when it was converted into a conference center for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as the International Conference Center. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was founded at the hotel in 1960 and it was the location for the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973 that ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. Later, on October 23, 1991, the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, which ended the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and Khmer Rouge civil war, were also signed there.
The French government sold the building in 2008 as part of a cost-cutting measure to the Qatari Diar firm for $460 million. It reopened on August 1, 2014, following extensive rebuilding by Vinci Construction costing €338 million, as The Peninsula Paris, the famous hotel chain’s first property in Europe, in a joint venture with Katara Hospitality. The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, parent company of Peninsula Hotels, owns a 20% interest in the property. The architectural designs were by Richard Martinet of Affine architecture & interior design, while the interiors were by Henry Leung of Hong Kong-based CAP Atelier Ltd. The hotel offers 200 luxury rooms, including 34 suites.
21 avenue Kléber, the Second Empire building was acquired in 2013 by The Peninsula Hotels and located next to Peninsula Paris. Built in 1900, the building is a commercial building along the historic Avenue Kléber.
