The House of the Birds

Along the Corso dell'Imperatrice, just in front of the Hotel Royal, there was a building that was called the House of the Birds, because it seems, but has not been documented, that there were stuffed birds inside.

Its existence, however, was not due to this, but rather to the fact that it served as a forepart of the Hotel itself. In fact, in its various changes of name, one can read on the wall: "Route du G.Hotel Royal", "Hotel Restaurant" as can be seen in the various pictures below.

It was demolished, like other neighbouring buildings, in 1936 during the works for the widening of Corso Imperatrice, commissioned by the administration of Podestà Guidi.

Its place was taken, albeit in a rearmost position, by Casa Franco designed and built by the architect Giulio Franco Gilli from Nice in 1905, and well known as one of the first examples of apartment buildings.

The widening of the road, which had been in the pipeline for many years, was carried out through a series of expropriations, donations and purchases in the years 1936-38 and involved the entire stretch from Largo Riviera to beyond the length of the corso dell'Imperatric itself.

In this way, together with the demolition of the Alexandra Café, access to Via Regina Margherita, today's Via Nuvoloni, was made easier and more rational.
The street built by the Marsaglia and Asquasciati families was bought by the municipality in 1899.

(sources: elaboration based on texts by Roberto Colombo and others; images from Private Archives)