Written by Andreu Jaume :

Gran hotel Camp de Mar

The Gran Hotel Camp de Mar was founded in 1930 by my grandmother, Francisca Capllonch, who was an enterprising  and very able woman, with a strong character. The street of ‘El Estudio Harris’ in Camp de Mar is called after her nowadays.  By that time, the Hotel was one of the only two luxury Hotels in the island —the second being the Formentor in the north of the island. Many Englishmen went there in winter looking for sun and quietness. After the war, my grandmother married Juan Enseñat, my grandfather —both of them became the best friends of Tomás in Mallorca-—, a very clever and educated man who enlarged the Hotel, which became one of the best in the Mediterranean. Tomás lived there in the late forties, when he was still refurbishing the house he had bought. By the way, Tomás bought the house from the widow of another British subject: Cecil Aldin, the sporting artist and illustrator, very well known at the time for his hunting and dog paintings. The Hotel had its splendour during the fifties and the sixties, when Robert Graves, Ava Gardner, Princess Soraya, Gary Cooper or Churchill were hosted in its beautiful rooms overlooking the sea. After the death of my grandfather and the illness of my grandmother, the Hotel became to die and closed in the early eighties. It was sold by my mother and and my aunt and now there is another Hotel —not so beautiful at all I’m afraid. This engraving is a view of the Hotel, made by Tomás in 1951.

Tomás had two houses and all the estate was called ‘El Estudio Harris’. There was a small house and a big one,  each with an art studio inside. Tomás and Hilda lived in one or the other, depending on their mood. My aunt inherited the smaller and sold it years ago. My mother got the big one, which is the one we keep under the spirit of Tomás…

….Click link to view more information about Camp de Mar     —-     Click link to view Gallery of Camp de Mar  photos and Tomas Harris Art

Post written by: Anita Harris