Cecil Hotel - Alexandria, Egypt - Antique Hotels on Waymarking.com

This classic hotel is located by the corniche - the seaside avenue which is the social and functional center of Alexandria. It was built in 1929, named Regina Palace until 1931, and designed as a romantic hotel with unbeatable style. It attracted the most notable visitors: Josephine Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Agatha Christie, Winston Churchill, Al Capone, Montgomery.

During the Second World War it was the headquarters of the Allied forces in Egypt during World War II. Its bar - named Monty after him - was the usual hangout for general Montgomery.

In 1952 it was seized by the revolutionary government of Nasser and it wasn't before 2007 that the rightful owners, the family who built it 8and who has been expelled from Egypt in the 50's), managed to get it back from the Egyptian State. Well, in fact the family sold it immediately back to the Egyptian State.


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"The four-star Cecil Hotel in Alexandria, Egypt, was built as the Cecil Hotel in 1929 by the French-Egyptian Jewish Metzger family as a romantic hotel, at Saad Zaghloul square where Cleopatra's needles had been, in front of the Corniche. Author Somerset Maugham stayed here, as did Winston Churchill and Al Capone. Moreover, the British Secret Service maintained a suite for their operations. It was seized by the Egyptian government after the revolution in 1952, and five years later the Metzger family was expelled from the country.

In 2007, after a lengthy court battle, legal ownership of the hotel was returned to the Metzger family, who subsequently sold it to the Egyptian government. This hotel appears in The Alexandria Quartet, written by Lawrence Durrell and the novel Miramar by Naguib Mahfuz. The hotel operated for many years as the "Sofitel Cecil Alexandria Hotel", until it joined the Steigenberger Hotels chain in October, 2014. In 20 December 2023, Icon Company, a subsidiary of Talaat Moustafa Group, acquired 51% of Legacy Hotels Company, which owns the hotel."

Name of the Hotel: Steigenberger Cecil Hotel Address: Cecil Hotel 16, Saad Zaghloul Square – Raml Station, Alexandria Number of Rooms: 82 Height in floors: 7 Hotel Rating: 4 Stars Hotel since: 01/01/1929 Date Building was built: 01/01/1929 First use of building: Hotel Historic Hotel (Historic Building, National Monument or similar): yes Urban Hotel (located in a village or town): yes Beachs Nearby (less than 25 Kms / 15 Mil): yes Historic Place nearby (Unesco or National monument/site less than 25 Kms / 15 Mil): yes Hotel website (if available): [Web Link] Mountains Nearby (less than 25 Kms / 15 Mil): Not Listed Major Pilgrimage Place Nearby (less than 25 Kms / 15 Mil. Consider any religion).: Not Listed

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