Who designed the Sporthotel Pontresina?
Sporthotel Pontresina
During the final decades of the nineteenth century there had been a trend for an enlargement of public spaces where hotel guests could meet and interact socially, and Ragaz now incorporated these trends in his enlarged ground floor design, with a large new vestibule, extending across the entire width of the central part of the structure, placed beside the existing (since 1881) restaurant. Other "public" rooms accessible to guests included a bar, a writing room, a substantial shop space (described in the architect's plan a "bank") and even, at the northern end of the building, a room designated in the architect's plan for "ping-pong". The large vestibule was dominated by an impressive wrought iron staircase, while the former main staircase at the southern end of the building was now designated as "side-staircase". There was another "side-staircase" towards the hotel's northern end. Each of the side-staircases had two wcs positioned beside them, while the in pride of place, positioned by the new main staircase, there was now a lift (elevator), adumbrating a trend that would become mainstream in European luxury hotels after 1900.