3 FLOORS OF SHIMLA’S CENTURY-OLD HOTEL GUTTED
A major portion of more than a century-old Grand Hotel was destroyed in a massive fire that broke out late on Monday night in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla, officials said.
The building houses many central government offices and is managed by the Central Public Works Department. The fire, which broke out at the heritage Grand Hotel’s reception at about 12:30am, gutted three floors of the recently-renovated Mayo Block. The fire was doused at around 3am on Tuesday morning. The Mayo Block was a VVIP wing of the hotel and was recently renovated and lavishly furnished. It is usually fully occupied on weekends but as the building was under renovation, there were no guests in the wing.The Grand Hotel was the first hotel to be built in Shimla after Chevalier Federico Peliti, confectioner to the viceroy, acquired the property in 1892 for ₹2 lakh. HTC