"Ursolina, daughter of Johannes and Natalina Badrutt-Pidermann. I was born on October 27th 1873 in Sils-Baselgia at the home of my beloved grandfather, Johannes Badrutt-Berry…” These lines come from a yellowed paper belonging to the granddaughter of the Kulm Hotel founder. Together with her husband Claudio Saratz, she has been the owner of the Hotel Steinbock since the close of the 19th century. She was in a perfect location to be able to take advantage of the surge in visitors at the time of the tourism boom. At that time, rather than tackling an expansion of the modest inn, she started to think about building a sumptuous new construction on the adjoining property.The plans for the project came from the Zurich-based architect Arnold Huber who had already worked at Lake Geneva, Zurich and Pontresina (Schweizerhof, Collina, Müller). The plans were realised in 1905. Sketches from 1904 bear witness to the original intent for a duo-faceted architectural design that would represent both the grandiose and more classically touristic styles. On the other side of the street, the baker, Kochendörfer, was inspired by this boom in construction – so much so that his baking kept Claudio Saratz awake and ended up sparking a dispute. After all, billows of smoke emanating from the bread oven don’t exactly go hand in hand with the touted fresh mountain air.