Atypical hotels in Paris: the other classicism
HOTEL FABRIC: A FABULOUS OLD FACTORY
This beautiful 33-room hotel is located in a renovated factory from Oberkampf-Ménilmontant, an old metallurgical area now converted into a gourmet spot in the city. The building features original industrial elements—i including cast iron columns and large windows —, but designers Agnès Louboutin and Patrice Henry have managed to update her look. There is a mixture of pieces of different styles in the lobby — Eames chairs , a Chesterfield sofa, old travel trunks used as side tables—and the breakfast room is dominated by a large star made from light bulbs (purchased at Recycle, a local vintage store).
Only his clientele is so eclectic: modern european young couples and families spreading handmade jams on the croissant at breakfast or sharing drinks at the trusted bar at night. The color combination — pink, green and orange — animates the bedrooms, and the showers have leds on the wall. There is no restaurant and room service (outsourced) is quite expensive (€18 for a Caesar salad), so your money will be better spent in its little spa, which uses natural potions from Les Bains de Marrakech. _(INFO: XI arrondissement; HD: from €190) _.
Hotel Fabric: an old factory that dreams of being a hotel
HOTEL DUTEMPS: TRANQUILITY IN THE CITY
the designers Alix Thomson Y Laura Leonard They have conceived this charming boutique hotel —opened only a year ago— in sepia. Away from the noisy rue du Faubourg Poissonnière and close to Square Montholon , it sports many antiques, sturdy wooden chairs, wicker stools (used as nightstands) and mirrors purchased at the nearby Archi Noire curio shop. It has 23 sparsely furnished rooms , with white floors and walls, and tropical print curtains and bedding. Everything here feels very bucolic, a bit like a serene summer village. Works depicting American boxers Rocky Marciano Y Sugar Ray Robinson (by emerging artist Rafael Alterio) add to the retro vibe, and handcrafted soaps bring a contemporary twist to ivory-colored bathrooms.
The lounge and cocktail bar are outfitted with leather and geometric tile booths, and in the basement there are a dimly lit bar with cozy banquettes and disparate cushions , which has become a meeting point for designers, musicians and photographers; It has also been used for private concerts of metronomy Y breakbot . The hotel serves pastries from the local Arnaud Delmontel bakery for breakfast, and for tea time there are muffins and chocolate chip cookies from the Christophe Michalak patisserie, but there is no restaurant. However, the staff has an up-to-date list of the best places to eat in the neighborhood, like the British Albion and the tiny Abri . _(INFO: IX arrondissement; from €120) _.
Hotel Dutemps: relax, take it easy...
EDGAR HOTEL: A CRAZY ELECTRIC DESIGN
When the hotelier and restaurateur Guillaume Rouget-Luchaire decided to open this modern hotel in the heart of the still-thriving Sentier fashion district, he envisioned the space as a restaurant with rooms, a gathering place for Parisian foodies and visitors who want to take part in the local scene. The restaurant, with its mid-century Danish tables and chairs , its vintage hanging lamps and patterned fabrics, is always full. Here the fools (bohemian bourgeois) seafood feasts (San Pedro fish that arrives from the Basque Country, smoked herring or grilled clams) thanks to the Belgian chef's menu Xavier Thiery and freely drink cocktails like the Parisienne, based on rum, St. Germain and lemon juice with ice.
Tout Bleu
At dusk there's a jovial atmosphere that rivals a '50s jazz soundtrack and the constant clinking of cocktail shakers. Upstairs, the owner gave family and friends carte blanche to design the 13 rooms: Pascal Brault, one of Chanel's stylists, opted for a curious monochromatic space ; photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand devised a kind of African border post. There are rooms with pink, green and yellow walls; with oak elements from the 30s and even with walls lined with pine wood and decorated with 90 watercolors of tree houses. All a little crazy, but in a good way. (INFO: II arrondissement; HD: from €190).
Edgar Hotel, eclectic and crazy in the best way
HOTEL PARADIS: A FASHIONABLE HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Filled with traditional bars, wholesale shops and, recently, cool nightclubs, the 10th arrondissement may at first seem like a curious place to locate a hotel that promises zen-like calm . But the 38 charming rooms of this motel-turned-hotel are located on one of the quietest streets in the neighborhood, the rue des Petites Ecuries.
The owners signed the designer Dorothée Meilichzon —author of London, New York and Ibiza Cocktail Experimental Clubs— to reinvent interiors, and she brought with her a mix of textbook Scandinavian minimalism and delicate touches of french casual chic : carved moldings in the living room, original wooden beams in the top floor suite, with its incomparable views of the Sacré Coeur ... There are custom rugs and houndstooth fabric headboards in the bedrooms and whimsical retro-chic wallpaper in the hallways.
Welcome!
Although the ceilings on the upper floors are comically low, this adds to the cozy Parisian pied-à-terre feel. This homey atmosphere is completed with Kusmi brand teas and homemade cakes and yoghurts . There is no restaurant, but you will find good places in the neighborhood, such as the quiet Vivant Table and Le Richer. _(INFO: X arrondissement; HD: from €81) _.
One of the refined rooms of the Hotel Paradis
EUGÈNE EN VILLE: BAROQUE AND MYSTERIOUS
Its 66 rooms break with the new aesthetics and focus on recreating a mysterious environment that deviates from the canons goofy chic . Inspired by the mysteries of paris , by the enigmatic nineteenth-century French writer Eugène Sue, at this hotel you won't come across cancan dancers, butchers or low life people, but you will find a suggestive and very baroque place . Dichromatic rooms: white in the bed linen, on the walls and in the bathrooms; black in the voluminous tiles, in the frames of his rococo mirrors and in the ink of his serigraphs. In his Cantine d'Eugène, delicious cured meats, cheeses and local wines and a selection of period films projected on nine LCD screens. (INFO: IX arrondissement; HD: from €160).
A 21st century classic
HOTEL 123 SEBASTOPOL: CRAZY ABOUT CINEMA
The world of cinema is one of the passions of the interior designer Philippe Maidenberg , so it was a pleasant surprise that he was entrusted with the task of honoring him when it came to transforming the 63 rooms of this hotel on boulevard Sébastopol . From the outside, it looks like any other store on this busy street. In fact, the lobby was an old perfumery now reinvented as if it were a classic cinema, with illuminated white posters with black letters and a red carpet with embroidered palm leaves similar to the one in Cannes.
Each of the six upper floors is named after a French personality, including the filmmaker Claude Lelouch , the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Daniele Thompson and the actress elsa zylberstein . In the bathroom, film equipment cases now serve as sinks; Y scripts, storyboards, film reels and photographs have been incorporated into the decoration.
From the upper floors there are magnificent views of the neo-Gothic Museum of Arts and Metiers , on rue Reaumur. Downstairs is a bright, glass-enclosed bar that simulates a Hollywood set, with huge spotlights, director's chairs and tripod-mounted mirrored tables, perfect for breakfast or cocktails (try the Vesper Martini). The movie theater seats 20 (upon request) and shows three films a day, and the ultra-modern Experimental Cocktail Club is close by. (INFO: II arrondissement; HD: from €179).
* This article is published in the Condé Nast Traveler magazine for September number 76. This issue is available in its digital version for iPad in the iTunes AppStore, and in the digital version for PC, Mac, Smartphone and iPad in the virtual newsstand by Zinio (on Smartphone devices: Android, PC/Mac, Win8, WebOS, Rim, iPad) .
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Hotel 123 Sebastopol: for movie lovers