History · 28 July 2026 · Nicca Schneider, Interior & History
Updated 28 July 2026
Where the furniture comes from: the interiors of Villa Beaulieu
A rescue sledge above the bar, hospital tables serving as bar tables, Engadin furniture from a doctor's collection: where the interiors of Villa Beaulieu come from.
The interiors of Villa Beaulieu are almost entirely second-hand, and that was a decision rather than a saving. Stone pine from the house itself, Engadin furniture from a neighbour's collection, pieces from other St. Moritz houses, and equipment from eighty years of clinic life. An old rescue sledge hangs above the bar. All of it was restored by our own team.
What was already here
Most of it we did not have to look for. When Klinik Gut moved out in 2023, it left behind a house that nobody touched for two years.
The stone pine was still there, on ceilings and walls, especially on the top floor. Arve is the tree of the highest treeline, and it still smells decades on. Open the door of La Contessa and you notice it immediately.
So were the doors, the fittings and the layout. Where consulting rooms were, rooms are now, and the walls stayed where they stood. More on the history is in From guesthouse to clinic to villa.
The finds from the clinic
More interesting than the panelling are the things eighty years of clinic life leave behind. We did not put them in cabinets, we put them back into use.
- An old rescue sledge hangs above the bar. It brought people down off the mountain; now it hangs above the glasses.
- More sledges stand in the corridors, where other houses hang pictures.
- Several hospital tables now serve as bar tables. The height is right and the surface survives anything.
Some guests recognise the pieces because they were treated here. That is the moment that makes the whole effort worth it.
A house that was a clinic for eighty years leaves behind things there is no category for. Those are exactly what we kept and put back to use.
— Nicca Schneider, Interior & History
Engadin furniture from a doctor's collection
Part of the furniture comes from the private collection of our neighbour Peter Berry: old Engadin pieces of the kind that stood in the parlours of the valley for generations.
The provenance fits better than we could have planned. Peter Berry is the fourth doctor of that name from St. Moritz; his family looked after the valley medically across four generations. He runs the Berry Museum, devoted to the paintings of Peter Berry II.
Furniture from a St. Moritz doctor's family now stands in a house that was the village clinic for eighty years. We did not arrange that, it simply happened.
Practically speaking, it is also the reason the house does not look like a hotel interior. Engadin furniture is heavy, dark and built for small rooms. In a house from 1868 it works differently from anything bought new.
Pieces from other St. Moritz houses
Furniture came from other houses in the village too. When a large house renovates, a great deal disappears that is still good.
We took what fitted and passed the rest on. An armchair from a grand hotel sits differently here than it did there: not as part of a suite, but as a single piece in a room that looks nothing like it.
Doors that are no longer doors
The most visible part of the interiors are the repurposed pieces.
- Il Conte has a carved door as its headboard, which used to be a door.
- La Stalla carries a historic barn door above the bed.
- L'Imperatur and La Principessa have burl-wood headboards, one scalloped, one flat.
- La Contessa was the living room of Grandmother Gut and is lined in stone pine to this day.
All thirteen rooms and suites are furnished individually. No piece exists twice, which makes the operation more awkward and the stay better.
Restored in the house
Almost everything was restored by our own team rather than a workshop in Zurich. Stripping, sanding, oiling, reupholstering: it takes longer and you can see it on the pieces.
That is precisely the point. A piece of furniture with three lives behind it should not look as though it came from a catalogue. Scratches stay when they belong to the story.
What is new
For honesty's sake: not everything is old. The bathrooms are new, all of them newly built, and so are the beds. Romance stops at mattresses.
The technology you cannot see is new as well. Everything else has a past, and usually somebody on the team will tell you about it if you ask.
Where to see it
Le Bar and Le Jardin are open to everyone, with no stay required. If you would like to see the rooms, drop us a line and we will gladly show you around.
The full timeline of the house is under the story, the house itself under the house.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the furniture at Villa Beaulieu come from?
- From three sources: what was already in the house, the private collection of our neighbour Peter Berry, and other houses in St. Moritz whose furniture would otherwise have been thrown out. Everything was restored by our own team.
- Are the interiors of Villa Beaulieu original or reproduced?
- Largely original. We selected and restored rather than reproduced. What is new is mainly the bathrooms and the beds.
- What is stone pine and why is it so common in the Engadin?
- Stone pine, or Arve, is the tree of the highest treeline. It still smells decades on, is soft enough to carve, and was for centuries the wood of Engadin parlours and panelling.
- Are there still objects from Klinik Gut in the villa?
- Yes, and they are in use rather than on display. An old rescue sledge hangs above the bar, more sledges stand in the corridors, and several hospital tables now serve as bar tables.
- Can you see the rooms at Villa Beaulieu without staying the night?
- Le Bar and Le Jardin are open to everyone. For the rooms, drop us a line and we will gladly show you around.
