Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel La Panache cocktail lounge

Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel La Panache cocktail lounge

Beirut was the first project where Prince applied his philosophy of design tied to location. Paisley fabrics, inspired by the arabesques of Islamic decorative arts and Arabic script, were used as wall coverings. In the case of the furnishings, Prince went directly to the souk, the city’s bazaar, to have local fabricators make samples of chairs as possible models for the hotel. When he learned that the fabricators would be unable to produce chairs on the scale required for a commercial enterprise, Prince traveled with a small local company to Germany to purchase the equipment needed for mass production. This company would become Daou et Fils, a major furniture manufacturer in the Middle East. The drapes covering the walls and the plaster on the ceiling were used to absorb sound from within the room.

Architecture by Edward Durell Stone and Joseph P. Salerno.

Interiors designed by Neal Prince.

Furniture designed by Mr. Prince and produced and supplied by Daou et Fils.

The Hotel was closed in 1976, and re-opened in 2000 under the new management of the Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts.

Prince, Neal A.

Stone, Edward Durell

Salerno, Joseph P.

Daou et Fils, Inc.

1961

Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts

Interior decoration

Hotels--Lebanon--Beirut

Neal A. Prince Special Collection & Archives, New York School of Interior Design, New York, NY, United States

Beirut, Lebanon