Hôtel Gassion

This luxury hotel was built by a Béarn local who had made a fortune in Brazil. It is located where the Gassion family’s private mansion used to stand and which had been transformed into a departmental prison under the French Empire.

Opened in 1872, this symbol of luxury and Pau’s high-society life offered its wealthy clientele all the services that could be expected in terms of rest and leisure: restaurant, tea room, games rooms, billiard room, smoking room, reading area, winter garden and even thermal water inhalation rooms.

Its 240 rooms and suites, at the forefront of comfort and equipped with bathrooms and gas lighting, could be reached by one of the first hydraulic lifts in Europe. The staff lived in the attic.

Working animals accessed the inner courtyard, where the stables were, through a gate located on the city side.

The hotel closed in 1930 and was divided into apartments.