Continental ParkHotel Lugano

History

In 1872, the Hirth-Wyss family bought Ronco Bianchi from the eponymous wine-growing family and founded the Beauregard boarding house.
The Gotthard railway tunnel built between 1872 and 1882 was the final stage of an exceptional project by Genevan engineer Louis Favre, inextricably linking Northern and Southern Europe.

Encouraged by the huge increase in tourism, in 1888 the Hirth-Wyss family extended the boarding house by building what is now the north wing of the Continental Parkhotel. In 1890, the Hirth-Wyss family sold the hotel complex, which consisted of two buildings, to Sir Johann Helmsauer of the Grand Duchy of Baden. Helmsauer commissioned the famous architect Paolino Somazzi to add a floor to the Beauregard boarding house and to build the south tower and a beautiful Art Nouveau-style dining room. This construction work was completed in 1912, the year Helmsauer renamed the hotel "Continental Beauregard". The hotel complex was sold to Josef Fassbind, the Landammann of Canton Schwyz, in the same year. He ran the hotel with his son Walter and his daughter-in-law Emmy from 1912 to 1958. The management of the hotel was then passed to my parents, Edgar and Erika, who ran it until 1997.

Edgar Fassbind jun.