At the end of the 19th century Lund was still a small town of some 17 000 inhabitants. But the railway had reached Lund already in 1856 and industries had started to spring up. There were one or two smaller hotels but the need for a major restaurant and hotel establishment was increasingly self-evident.

A consortium including a series of representatives from industry and commerce was formed, land was purchased and the construction of the new Grand Hotel was started in October 1896.

The architect was Alfred Hellerström, who was the city architect in Helsingborg and who was also reponsible for Gossläroverket School and the City Hall in Helsingborg. Amongst his other work in Lund, the Sparbank building on Kyrkogatan, the Cathedral School and the University Library stand out. The hotel’s facade is in light red Öved sandstone and yellow brick.

The interior is characterised by the prevailing stylistic ideal of the time, namely Jugendstil. This style has its roots in industry’s rationalised manufacturing methods yet would constitute an alternative to cheap but tasteless mass products. Jugendstil is characterised by sinuous forms gathered from the plant kingdom and reflects impulses from e.g. Rococo, Japanese art and Folk Art. The interior of the Grand, particularly the lobby, staircase and Stora Salen (the Main Hall), display fine examples of Jugendstil’s idiom.

A series of well-known hoteliers, over the years, have run the Grand Hotel. The last 50 years feature such names as Gunnar Ek, Sven Holger Fogelklou and Frank Svensson. During the years 1981-1990 the Grand was managed by the brothers Leif and Urban Paulsson, after 1990 by Leif Paulsson together with his wife Ann-Christin. In 2005 Leif and Ann-Christin’s daughter Maria Paulsson Rickle took over as CEO.