French Revolution

Words Claire Sullivan
Photography Frederic Fontenoy

One of Europe’s great neo-classical cities, Paris now offers a
surprising wealth of mid-century and modern design and architecture.

As the song goes, we love Paris in the springtime. In fact, we love Paris at any old time of the year. What’s not to love about this magnificent city where history is so elaborately monumentalised at every turn? The glamour of a daytime walk along the Seine admiring the architecture of the Louvre is matched only by the beauty of the Eiffel Tower in the evening, as it sparkles like an enormous Christmas tree for the first hour of its nightly lighting. For the modernist design lover, however, the neo-classical boulevards of Paris may not seem like the first place to uncover mid- to late-last century gems.

Anyone who has seen the Pompidou Centre, conceived by then-President Georges Pompidou who wanted to create a cultural institution for modern art in the heart of Paris, can understand why, in 1977, it shocked Paris’ traditionalists to the core. Through the 1980s, increasingly modern buildings began to appear in Paris, including the Grand Arch skyscraper in the Defense area, and culminating in IM Pei’s Pyramide, soaring through the centre of the palatial Renaissance architecture of the Louvre. More is yet to come, with spectacularly modern buildings by Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne planned for construction in the city over the next few years.

For years, wealthy Brits and, increasingly, Americans have made pilgrimages to Paris to spend up large on the sought-after and readily accessible French antiques on offer in the cobbled streets of the St Germain district. But among the 19th century architecture, Louis XIV antiques and super-modern skyscrapers, Paris also increasingly offers hidden gems of mid-century furniture stores, design hotels and bars and restaurants by the world’s best contemporary designers.

Where to Stay:
Hôtel Montelambert, 3 Rue de Montelambert. (7th)
Perfectly located in the heart of the St Germain, this hotel is directly across the street from famous French designer Christian Liaigre’s furniture showroom, and right next door to the highly celebrated, very popular and eye-wateringly expensive restaurant Joel Roubechon. The rooms aren’t huge (nothing in Paris is) but they’re renovated in a chic Modernist style. The streetside restaurant and bar is the perfect place to while away an evening after a long day in the galleries.
 www.montelambert.com

Hôtel Costes, 239 Rue St Honore. (1st)
Right in the middle of the Rive Gauche action is the Hotel Costes, which is probably better known for the excellent CDs DJ Stephane Pompinac produces for the hotel, than the hotel itself. If you don’t stay here, do your best to visit the bar or courtyard restaurant for a plate of the best escargots in town. Better still, ogle the glamorous crowd. On our last visit we spotted no less than two supermodels.
 www.hotelcostes.com

Hôtel du Petit Moulin, 2931 Rue du Poitou. (3rd)
The Marais area is always fun. Not only is there plenty of nightlife on offer, the streets and alleyways offer some of the best in unique boutique shopping in Paris. The Petit Moulin is a whimsical hotel, offering an almost haute couture dress-up-box feel, created by Christian Lacroix. Each of the 17 suites offers something different, from polka dots, to leather, to taffeta and velvet, and some even display original murals sketched by the designer himself.
 www.hoteldupetitmoulin.com

Where to Eat:
L’Atelier De Joel Robuchon, 7 Rue de Montalembert. (7th)
As implied earlier, this place requires a large expense account. It is, however, truly worth it. The restaurant offers the most inventive of meodern French cuisine with sit-at-the-bar Japanese-style dining. The night Urbis dined here, we sat next to a restaurant critic for the New York Times, who discoursed on Robuchon’s fabulous cuisine.
A must visit.

Cristal Room, 11 Place des Etats-Unis. (16th)
If you haven’t had your fill of Philippe Starck, a visit to Baccarat’s Cristal Dining Room should fix you. Once again Starck goes overboard and creates a magical dining environment, using Baccarat crystals to full effect, in combination with sumptuous satin walls. If you’re serious about dinner here, or perhaps looking to propose to someone and want the most elaborate and glamorous environment imaginable, book the Salon Rose, but be warned, you’ll need to do it months in advance.

Café Baci, 36 Rue du Turenne. (1st)
A great place to stop for breakfast, lunch, dinner or cocktails. Because it’s owned by famous French actor Jean-Pierre Bacri, it attracts a hip local French crowd; a relief after the Americanisation of many other restaurants.

B4 Restaurant , 8 Square Saint Croix, (2nd).
After a hard morning of scouring the streets of the Marais for mid-century design classics, stop by the extremely hip B4 for a quick bite in a modern restaurant, the style of which is rare but refreshing in
these parts.

What to See and Do:
Christian Liaigre, 42 Rue du Bac. (7th)
No design-lover’s trip to Paris should exclude a visit to Liaigre’s store. Made famous by his numerous interiors projects around the globe, including the exceptional Mercer Hotel in New York, the store showcases and sells many of the pieces Liaigre designed for his famous commissions.

Jousse Enterprise, 18 Rue de Seine (7th)
The Jousse Enterprise is a paradise for mid-century furniture lovers and art collectors alike, holding regular exhibitions by local and international artists alongside their ever-changing assortment of Eames, and Corbusier classics. An exhibition of Thomas Grünfeld’s wild taxidermy amused us when we visited.

Fiesta Galerie, 45 Rue Vieille du Temple (7th)
This gem in the Marais is the perfect place to pick up that long searched-for mid-century piece to take pride of place back home. We were so tempted by a Joe Colombo chair that we considered arguing it would be excess seating, not excess baggage, for the flight home.

Lanvin, cnr Rue St Honore & Rue Boissy D’Anglas. (1st)
Lanvin is our pick for the most stylish of French design houses. Both their men’s and women’s collections offer slick city aesthetics. And for those of us without the budget for their hefty price tags, at least we can enjoy the ingenuity of their hilarious window displays.

Institut du Monde Arabe, 1 Rue des Fosses, St Bernard. (5th)
Our favourite French architect, Jean Nouvel, cannot go without mention. This incredibly beautiful building offers an Arabic feel from afar, but closer up, you realize each patterned window is a mechanical iris that opens and closes automatically in response to the brightness of the day. A genius way to protect the Middle Eastern antiques and artifacts within.

Maison de Verre, 31 Rue Saint Guillaume (7th)
Architects Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet have created a truly modern architectural marvel in the heart of St Germain. You can get a reasonable glimpse from the street of the intricate glasswork that provides a very private abode for the residents who live here.