The Woodward

Quai Wilson runs along the right bank of Lake Geneva, past the Belle Époque hotels that faced the water when the League of Nations met in the city. At number 37, the building that opened in September 2021 as The Woodward is one of those houses, put up in 1901 and renewed over four years into an all-suite hotel. Every suite faces the lake, and on a clear morning the view takes in the Jet d'Eau, the Salève and, behind them, the white top of Mont Blanc.

History

The building dates from 1901, in the French-inspired style that lined the lakefront in the decade before the First World War. For most of the twentieth century it served as offices and apartments rather than as a hotel. Oetker Collection, the German family-owned group behind Le Bristol in Paris and Brenners Park-Hotel in Baden-Baden, took it on as its first Swiss hotel and its first new city address since Le Bristol. The conversion kept the façade and the proportions of the floors and rebuilt the interior from the ground up. The Woodward opened in September 2021, during the pandemic, with fewer than thirty keys and two restaurants.

Architecture and design

Pierre-Yves Rochon, the Paris designer who also worked on Le Bristol and the Four Seasons George V, designed the interiors. He treated the hotel as a private house: a small entrance hall rather than a lobby, a staircase, panelled walls, parquet, marble and a palette of greys, blues and golds taken from the lake. Each suite is furnished differently, with antiques and contemporary pieces mixed, and tall windows onto the quay. The building has nine floors and the rooftop holds the terrace of the bar.

Rooms and suites

There are 26 suites and nothing smaller. The entry category starts at around 60 square metres, with a separate living room; the largest suites take the corners of the building, and the two-bedroom Royal Suite on the top floor has its own terrace over the lake. Every suite has a lake view, a dressing room and a marble bathroom, and most have a working desk, since Geneva's visitors are as often here for a bank or a UN agency as for the lake.

Dining

L'Atelier Robuchon, the Geneva outpost of the counter-style restaurant created by Joël Robuchon, holds two Michelin stars and seats guests around an open kitchen on the ground floor. Le Jardinier, under the same culinary direction, is the lighter, vegetable-led restaurant with one Michelin star and a conservatory onto the quay. The bar on the ground floor serves through the evening, and the rooftop opens in summer for drinks above the lake.

Wellness

The Guerlain Spa occupies the lower floors, with an indoor pool of 21 metres, treatment rooms using Guerlain's protocols, a sauna, a hammam and a fitness room. It is the only Guerlain spa in Switzerland. The pool runs the length of the building, lit from above.

Weddings and events

The hotel hosts small private dinners and meetings rather than large receptions, since the building has no ballroom. Boards and family offices use the private dining rooms off the restaurants and the suites' living rooms; weddings are limited to intimate gatherings and dinners for a few dozen guests. The rooftop terrace serves for summer receptions.

Location

The Woodward stands on Quai Wilson in the Pâquis district, on the right bank between the Brunswick Monument and the Perle du Lac park, with the Bains des Pâquis bathing jetty across the road. Cornavin, Geneva's main railway station, is a ten-minute walk, and Geneva airport about fifteen minutes by car. The United Nations and the international organisations of the Place des Nations are five minutes away by taxi, and the old town and shopping streets of the left bank a twenty-minute walk around the end of the lake. For a luxury hotel in Geneva it is unusually small, which is the point of it.