Johannes Badrutt

Johannes Badrutt was born on 2 April 1819 in Samedan, Switzerland into an old-established Engadin valley family. His father was Johannes Badrutt Sr., a contractor and building supplies merchant, originally from Pagig.[4] His mother, Anna Maria (née Donatsch) Badrutt, hailed from Malans but she was introduced to her husband while working in Chur. Badrutt had four siblings, one elder brother and two younger sisters and one brother.[5]

While his brothers enjoyed a formal tertiary education in the form of an apprenticeship or college studies, he didn't pursue any continuing education. He attended several schools and worked in Chiavenna and Chur to gain experience.[6]

Badrutt memorial

In 1836, aged 17, he entered his fathers building company.[7] His father owned a small inn, called A la Vue du Bernina (the round gabled house is still standing today).[8] Since 1855, Badrutt leased the Faller Inn which he had the intention of acquiring. In 1858, he sold his parents inn and purchased Faller's for 28,500 Swiss Francs. He and his wife started to upgrade the inn and soon it was known as Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, one of the leading hotels in the luxury industry. Badrutt made several strategic real estate investments at the time, for example he purchased the building site of today's Badrutt's Palace.

In 1882, he was the largest landowner in St. Moritz. He was a visionary in terms of technical development. In 1878, Badrutt went to the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France and purchased the first electrical lighting system, which he brought back to St. Moritz.[9] He was also an art collector and patron.[10]

Badrutt married Maria Berry (1822-1877), the daughter of the baker and municipal councilor of Chur, Johannes Berry in 1843. She was the sister of Peter Robert Berry, who'd later became the a health practitioner in St. Moritz. The couple had eleven children, of which eight reached adulthood. His second eldest son was the famed hotelier Caspar Badrutt, who founded Badrutt's Palace Hotel in 1896.[11]

• Herbert Meider: Schweizer Pioniere der Hotellerie. Schweizerische Verkehrszentrale, Paudex 1976 (in German)
• Susanna Ruf: Fünf Generationen Badrutt. Hotelpioniere und Begründer der Wintersaison. Verein für wirtschaftshistorische Studien, Zürich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909059-49-2 (Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik. Bd. 91). (in German)