History
The Cecil had quite modest beginnings in 1883 as a one storied house, the Tendril Cottage with its famed inhabitant- Rudyard Kipling. It is claimed that Rudyard Kipling frequented the house where he wrote his novels, including “Plain tales from the Hills”, inspired by Shimla.
Mohan Singh Oberoi arrived in Shimla in 1922, when after numerous owners the Cecil was bring run by John Faletti. Thus began an enduring legacy. Mohan Singh Oberoi quickly rose up the ranks and formed a strong relationship with the new manager Mr. Ernest Clarke.
Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi acquired the Cecil as a part of the acquisition of the Associated Hotels of India in 1944. Soon, The Cecil became the address that every one wanted to be seen at. The famous Balls and Floor shows and Lola, the dancer added to the charm of the hotel.
The hotel was closed in 1984 for extensive renovation and refurbishment and was reopened in 1997, restored to a style befitting its past glory, worthy of the Oberoi’s present.
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“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)