My first stay in Reims was as a newly-wed, on my honeymoon back in 2005. At that time, the most luxurious accommodation option was the (then newly renovated) Domaine Les Crayères – we loved every detail of our stay and couldn’t ever imagine staying anywhere else in Reims.
All that changed in 2022 with the opening of Residence Eisenhower, now our home-away-from-home in Reims (having stayed there on our last three visits, with a fourth stay planned in December this year).
Located in the heart of Reims on Boulevard Lundy (also home to nearby Louis Roederer), the Residence is located a few minutes’ walk from the thirteenth-century Notre-Dame Cathedral, the setting for the coronations of the kings of France.
The former mansion derives its name from the end of World War II, when it hosted General Dwight David Eisenhower in the days of deliverance from the war. Accordingly, the Residence is intimately linked to the significant dates of the past, bearing witness to the influential association between the United States and France.
The Descours family, owners of the EPI group which includes Champagne houses Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck and Rare Champagne, acquired the property in 2016. For the next few years, the mansion was painstakingly restored in collaboration with Parisian architects Châtillon Architectes. Residence Eisenhower opened on Valentine’s Day in February 2022 – a fitting date given its hard to imagine a more romantic place to spend your time in Reims!
At “the Residence”, as it is affectionately known, you are welcomed as family by the gracious Maîtresse de Maison Annelies Peters. Guests are encouraged to make themselves at home, with a beautiful communal areas designed for guests to congregate over morning coffee in the breakfast room or garden, wine tasting the stunning cellar, a relaxed apéritif in the library (General Eisenhower’s former office) or a dinner in the formal dining room or ballroom, complete with restored columns and moldings.
The renovation and hospitality is a triumph.
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