Managing Change During the 2020 Pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic was upon us, Hotel de Paris Museum set a financial goal to raise $25,000 in admissions, donations, and shop sales between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.  Then, on March 25, 2020 Governor Jared Polis issued the first in a series of COVID-19 related executive orders for all Coloradans to stay at home due to the presence of COVID-19 in the state.  An extension of the order went into effect April 6.  On April 26, the  executive order labeled “safer at home” loosened restrictions for Coloradans to shelter in place.  A disaster emergency was declared May 22 due to the presence of Coronavirus disease in Colorado, and on May 25 the safer at home executive order was amended and extended.  Most recently, the Safer at Home and in the Vast, Great Outdoors executive order was passed June 1, offering some hope of a slow, but eventual recovery.

However, this long-term situation will make it exceedingly difficult for the museum to raise $25,000 by the end of its fiscal year.  To mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 to the museum’s financial health and stability, plans were undertaken early on to prepare the site for a phased reopening of Hotel de Paris Museum during its 66^th year of operation.

A Public Health Order issued by the State of Colorado closed our site, but guidance from Clear Creek County Public and Environmental Health aided in a successful (safe) reopening of Hotel de Paris Museum June 19, 2020 (one day after Governor Polis addressed reopening museums, which are considered non-essential and a small to medium exposure risk).

The closure was a time to continue fulfilling our mission and make changes in preparation of resuming guided tours and inviting customers back into our museum shop (admissions and merchandise sales are two of our revenue streams).  Thankfully, Governor Polis and County Commissioners Randall "Randy" Wheelock, George Marlin, and Sean Wood provided regular informative briefings to aid businesses reopen and work toward normalcy and recovery.

The following information is based on best practices shaped by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Governor Polis’ COVID-19 Response Team, Clear Creek County Public and Environmental Health, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America/Great American Treasures, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Press conferences, meetings, webinars, websites, and documents provided information that was collected and disseminated into five categories.  The result was “Reopening Plan for Hotel de Paris Museum."

HYGIENE

• Daily employee temperature check
• Hotel de Paris Museum provides a non-contact infrared thermometer and keeps an employee log of temperatures and symptoms
• COVID-19 Employee Health Screening Form for Onsite Screening in use
• Staff members with temperatures 99+* F will be sent home
• Temperature logs become part of the museum’s personnel files
• Staff were issued one non-surgical face mask
• Hourly hand washing by staff
• Repetitive use of hand sanitizer by staff
• Hand sanitizer containing 65% alcohol in use
• Hand sanitizer at points of entry/exit
• Museum Shop
• Museum
• Annex
• Staff restroom
• Executive director’s office
• Metal folding chairs available in each room 1^st Floor (museum)
• Replaces folding wood chair
• Can be disinfected after use
• No access to visitor security lockers until further notice
• Mandatory masks or face coverings for staff, volunteers, and visitors
• Masks or face coverings must stay on and cover the nose and mouth when on Hotel de Paris Museum property
• Single use masks or face coverings are available for visitors who arrive without a mask or face covering
• Visitors will be asked to leave the property if not compliant (Executive Order 6.4.2020)
• Disinfecting wipes, paper towels and bleach based cleaner in use
• Museum Shop
• Museum
• Annex
• Identify clean pens from used pens
• Provide separate, labeled containers
• Disinfect used pens with a bleach based cleaner

 

SOCIAL DISTANCING

• Guided tours of no more than 6 visitors + 1 tour guide
• Group size determined by room configurations
• Group size determined by room furnishings
• No more than 3 staff members on site
• Keep site occupancy to 10 or fewer people
• Executive director’s office restricted to ED only
• 6 feet social distancing
• Distinct standing spots identified for visitors (1^st Floor)
• Distinct standing spots identified for tour guides (1^st Floor)
• Guide will address from doorway in Room 13
• Guide will address visitors from doorway in Sample Room 2
• Relocated proprietor portrait gallery from a congested area to a large room
• Minimal changes to historic furnishing configurations add more usable floor space
• Removed seating to discourage congregating
• 6^th Street entrance
• Museum Shop
• Courtyards
• Sneeze guard installed at admissions desk
• No more than two customers in museum shop at any time; shared households may have no more than four in museum shop at any time
• Signage

CONTACT TRACING

• Online admissions have precedence to walk-up admissions
• Regulates size of group
• Serves as a reservation
• Aids in locating visitors should an outbreak occur
• Collects customer names
• Records contact information

PROGRAMMING CHANGES

• Reduced tour schedule
• Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays
• 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m.
• Discounted General Admission pricing for 2020
• Online convenience fee $1 per paid admission
• 1^st Floor tour only (Commercial Kitchen, Dining Room, Sample Room 2, Rooms 13 & 14)
• 2nd story virtual tour
• Cellar virtual tour
• Onsite visitors unable or unwilling to wear a mask or face covering can visit us online
• Take a virtual tour of the 2^nd Story for FREE
• Take a virtual tour of the Cellar for FREE
• Read Louis’ menu online for FREE
• Watch a variety of videos for FREE
• Examine our in-depth blog articles for FREE
• Removed interactive experiences until further notice
• Call bell
• Cold roll mangle
• Copy of restaurant menu
• Albums of historic photos, correspondences, and receipts
• Smell jars
• Suspended indefinitely Group Tours and Facility Rentals
• Cancelled experiential wine tours for 2020
• Cancelled annual Bastille Day celebration for 2020
• Cancelled Blue Star Museums for 2020
• Cancelled Smithsonian magazine Day for 2020
• Developed and executed a new online auction

SITE CHANGES

• Opened doors between rooms on 1^st floor
• Improves air circulation
• Eliminates touching of door hardware
• Opened windows for air replenishment and improved circulation
• Commercial Kitchen
• Sample Room 2
• Room 13
• Room 14
• Museum Shop (Sample Room 1)
• Restricted some areas
• 2^nd story
• Cellar
• Security lockers
• Admissions desk
• Separate entrances for museum tours and museum shop

VISITOR GUIDELINES

• Face mask covering nose and mouth required.
• Maintain social distance of 6 feet.
• Sanitize hands regularly.
• Follow staff instructions.
• Service animals allowed.  No pets.
• No seating, restrooms, or water available.
• Daily capacity is capped to ensure necessary space for social distancing.
• First floor tour only.  The 2ND story and cellar are closed at this time.
• Set aside one hour for your visit.
• No bags, backpacks, luggage, or strollers allowed.
• Do not visit Hotel de Paris Museum if you are COVID-19 positive, have had close contact with someone COVID-19 positive, or are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.
• Visitors not following requirements may be asked to leave.

To help Hotel de Paris Museum fill its fundraising gap, go to www.hoteldeparismuseum.org before April 1, 2021.

The Influence of Epidemics on Hotel Keeping

In the throes of the COVID-19 world-wide pandemic, it became apparent how relevant our discussion of health preservation is at Hotel de Paris Museum and how Victorian concerns are like our own.  In addition to cooking, hosting, and debating, hotelier and restaurateur Louis Dupuy should be recognized for his interest in sanitary science.  He addressed health on both an individual and communal level, what we currently call public health.  Physical proof of his attention to his own health and safety, as well as his guests, is woven into the built environment of Hotel de Paris.

Toilet paper was offered in individual sheets or on rolls 

It could be argued Dupuy was a borderline germaphobe. His private quarters had vents and fresh air returns to rid the rooms of cigar smoke; he read books about anatomy, nutrition, health, and disease; and, he decorated in the (Charles) Eastlake style, an architectural and household design reform movement believed to improve one’s health through easy-to-clean furnishings that reduced dust, and, therefore, improved health by discouraging disease.  Dupuy also embraced personal hygiene by taking daily ice baths, keeping a flesh brush and skin strap in his private bathroom, and outfitting it with hot and cold running water, a soaking tub, vanity with wash bowl and nickel plated brass spigots, a gravity flush toilet with copper cistern, and toilet paper dispensers from Scott Paper Company. 

Clearly, Dupuy liked creature comforts like these; however, he also ran his famous French inn during a time of industrialization and Western expansion in the United States.  People were leaving the healthful countryside for city jobs or new settlements and discovered pollution and proximity were breeding grounds for communicable diseases such as cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and influenza.  Because of the demand for Dupuy’s cooking and luxurious accommodations, along with an interest in outdoor sporting and restoring one’s health in the High Country, Hotel de Paris often ran at capacity.  Therefore, same-sex lodgers were often asked to share rooms—and even beds—with strangers.  Without social distancing, it was necessary Dupuy build sanitary features and practices into his business plan.

Corner vanities and fold-away towel bars
are located in guest rooms and private quarters, Room 4

Every room in his popular hotel contained a washstand, or, in the case of his restaurant dining room, had a lavatory adjacent to it.  Dupuy encouraged (and may have even expected) his guests to engage in frequent hand washing with soap and water.  The double vanity for the dining room was equipped with hot and cold running water, a cake of soap, hairbrush, comb, glass tumbler, and a towel roller and towel.  Five additional roller towels were kept in a nearby walnut wardrobe, which stood outside a public half-bathroom or powder room containing a gravity flush toilet with copper cistern, corner sink, and toilet paper dispenser from Morgan Envelope Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.  A nearly identical communal half-bathroom or powder room was located on the second floor, was ventilated by a skylight and reserved for the use of lodgers and possibly on-site staff.

Custom soap by James S. Kirk & Company Perfumers
Chicago, Illinois

Wash basins, toilets, and bathtubs were mostly purchased from J. L. Mott Iron Works, and regularly scoured by French housekeeper Sophie Gally who used granulated Red Seal Lye to disinfect and freshen.  American chamber maid Sarah Curtain emptied and cleaned sanitary-ware chamber pots for hotel guests and on-site staff.  To facilitate his lodgers’ personal hygiene, Dupuy stocked his well-ventilated guest rooms (each with one or more windows, transoms, and high ceilings for good air circulation to discourage miasmas and “bad air”) with huckaback towels and created a retail area in the restaurant dining room in which he sold five types of soap (one suited for children and others bearing the words “Hotel de Paris”), four choices of women’s perfumes, bay rum cologne for men, rose water glycerin lotion, tooth wash, and chewing gum.  Doormats, toothpick holders and wastepaper baskets were also placed throughout the building.

People were encouraged to use spittoons or cuspidors

Doorknobs, handles, and spittoons in the public areas of Hotel de Paris were brass.  This yellow alloy of copper and zinc was known to possess anti-bacterial qualities.  By 1867, French physician Victor Burq proved copper was antimicrobial and can kill bacteria and viruses within minutes; therefore, copper and brass fittings and accessories were popular not only for their attractiveness and affordability, but also for inherent health benefits. 

Period example of an outdoor clothesline

Because the color white is associated with cleanliness, Dupuy’s restaurant tables were set with white tablecloths and napkins and guest beds were dressed in white sheets, pillowcases, and coverlets.  Dupuy wanted to know when the linens were dingy or soiled, and employed Chinese gardener John Touk as a live-in laundryman for the hotel.  Touk used a copper wash boiler for laundry and washed white linens in hot water to sterilize, lye soap to discourage bed bugs and mites, and Borax to whiten.  For bleaching and sanitizing, laundry was dried out of doors on a clothesline in the sunny East Courtyard.

Copper mixing bowl on zinc countertop, 1878 Commercial Kitchen

Behind the scenes in the commercial kitchen, Dupuy prepared food on farm tables fitted with food-safe anti-bacterial zinc countertops and cooked using copper pots, pans, and mixing bowls.  He prepared food wearing a heavy, white cook’s apron and cap while standing before a white porcelain cooking surface, beneath a skylight which served as a flue and between several exterior doors and windows that provided strong and consistent cross ventilation and a limitless replenishment of fresh mountain air.

Fragment of linoleum under carpet, Room 3

As healthy as Dupuy’s hotel and restaurant were, there were problems:  guests shared cakes of soap, towels, a hairbrush, comb, and glass tumblers; customers touched communal fixtures; antimicrobial sheet linoleum (made popular by Frederick Watson in the 1860s) was removed and wall-to wall-carpeting installed in guest rooms; and, waitresses, musicians, and back-of-the-house staff ate soup Louis Dupuy made from restaurant leftovers salvaged from the plates of patrons. 

Much like today, the Victorian era practice of sanitary science and its preservation of individual and public health was not yet perfected; however, Louis Dupuy’s interest in healthy living in the High Country resulted in good food for vitality, reduced dust indoors, free air flow, antimicrobial surfaces, sanitary plumbing fixtures, sterilized laundry, and abundant toiletries for personal hygiene. 

Let’s all keep working on that social distancing!

Please consider making a tax deductible contribution at hoteldeparismuseum.org.