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Four years of work, a renovation from the ground up, a famous architect – Jean-Michel Wilmotte -, craftsmen and more than 100 million euros paid by Alrov, his Israeli owner … Saying that the reopening Lutetia was expected is an understatement.
Entering the twenty-first century
Since its closure in 2014, the hotel had leaked little information. And the huge palisades adorned with trompe-l'oeil and advertisements behind which it had folded gave no hint of what was going on behind the scenes. Only one certainty remained: that of finding, completely restored, the sublime Art Nouveau facade that stood since 1910 at the corner of Boulevard Raspail and Rue de Sèvres – date when the heirs of the Bon Marché had inaugurated the establishment to accommodate customers and suppliers in optimal conditions.
To this certainty was added the prospect of seeing finally this emblematic building of the left bank, whose state of obsolescence was no longer a secret, enter the 21st century … A challenge that Jean-Michel Wilmotte took up with – do not mince our words – a lot of panache, so much the responsibility was heavy at the historical level as at the financial level, and so the followers of the first hour remained attached to the spirit of places … "The idea was not to make another hotel in Paris, but to revive the Lutetia," nuance he.
The Saint-Germain and his v rear decorated with 22 colorful characters imagined by the artist Fabrice Hyber.
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Fronton unveiled
It was therefore necessary to redistribute the spaces in order to optimize comfort and services worthy of a 5 stars staring at the distinction "palace". Seventeen meters were dug under the building to accommodate spa, swimming pool, gym and machinery. The number of rooms (mostly unfinished) increased from 233 to 184 to create 47 suites. Count 28 square meters for the first category (one of the smallest on the Paris market) and 210 for the largest. Another major transformation: the integration of natural light through a courtyard, former blind room whose Wilmotte teams have had the ingenious idea to remove the roof, thus pulsing through doors, canopy and windows in the parties permanent radiation located on the ground floor. A patio that also uncovered the pediment while earthenware and mosaics that adorned the interior facade, one of the countless vestiges Art Nouveau and Art Deco – the Lutetia is at the crossroads of the two – staking the place and largely sublimated during the renovation. "The existing has been enhanced and the rest rewritten more contemporary. We did not want to fall into pastiche, "explain Anne-Claude Dessart and Christian Oudart, project directors at Wilmotte & Associés
The Joséphine bar topped with a superb fresco concealed on several layers of paint.
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Thus the superb fresco of the bar Joséphine has been restored and twisted with huge domed bronze glbades. The famous Marquise of the entrance as the stucco galleries were reconstructed from archival photos. In the Saint-Germain salon, the trellis on plaster embellished with flowers, butterflies and birds now responds to the astonishing glbad roof decorated with colorful characters such as teddy bears, Bibendum and Santa Claus signed by Fabrice Hyber. Everywhere, reinterpreted scales and diamonds dress windows, marble floors, bronze grilles in the lobby and elevators. Lines and streaks spread out through fluted woods on the walls, vertical sconces in the hallways and silkscreen on bathroom doors. The furniture, inspired by period models, is adorned with new materials, starting with these shepherdesses who traded their cannage for daring leather lianas.
1500 cubic meters of rubble were excavated in order to 'landscaping the swimming pool bathed in natural light thanks to an astonishing height under ceiling.
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Extravagance and Erudition
If Lutetia officially reopens today, it is far from over. Architects and workers are always at work. By this fall, we will finally be able to discover all the rooms, at the top of which are the seven Signature Suites; the bar Aristide and its two smoking rooms; the Lutetia brewery under the leadership of Gérald Pbadédat (3-star chef at Petit Nice in Marseille) and the Cristal salon, which was once a hotbed of life and celebration. It is also this excitement – mixing both extravagance and erudition – that we hope to find in bars, lounges and restaurants just waiting to be conquered. For if the hotel has a minimum charge of 850 euros per night, it is nonetheless an accessible place where lunch (menu from 38 euros), take a coffee or a drink is not necessarily out of price. So let him take the time to settle down, to get round, to polish up. And give him an appointment once the effervescence of the opening past. It is undoubtedly at this time that Lutetia will reveal what it really has in the heart.
From the beginning, the hotel will offer 184 rooms including 47 suites.
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SOME FIGURES
17,000 hours: Work time that was required for the restoration of the fresco of the bar Joséphine discovered under several layers of paint.
1,500 cubic meters
: volume of rubble excavated beneath the hotel to accommodate the spa and pool.
1 600: number of carefully selected works to be exhibited in the library.
1 ton: weight of bathroom baths in one piece of Calacatta marble.
400: number of employees in the hotel. Of these, 100 were already employed before his renovation.
2.5 m: Diameter of hanging chandeliers in the lobby.
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