Rue du Louvre, at the corner of Étienne Marcel and Jean-Jacques-Rousseau streets, Dominique Perrault, the architect of the BnF, has delivered a place "
dedicated to the new uses of the city today
", by signing his work in his favorite color, black.
"It's the color of French chic"
, rejoices Laurent Taïeb, founder and artistic director of the 5-star.
This new complex will be inaugurated on Monday January 10, 2022 in this architectural island, in the presence of Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy as well as Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs because this event will also be the opportunity to present the new stamp of the French Presidency of the European Union.
There will also be offices, shops, a day-care center and the largest police station in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
A radical change of destination for this La Poste building dear to Parisians.
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It was the only French office to be open all night. The agency was invaluable for those who carried out administrative procedures at the last minute with a deadline such as their declaration or the payment of tax ... In the 19th century, the architect Julien Guadet had adopted the codes of Baron Haussmann to design his impressive stone envelope housing 32,000 m² of huge platforms, impressive metal structures made of arches and lattice beams, and the central workshop under glass.
Le Figaro
spoke about it from July 14, 1888:
“Surprise: this morning, at eight o'clock, all the postal and telegraph services of the city of Paris, without exception, are operating at the new Hôtel des Postes. It's a real event ”
, we read in the“ Miscellaneous News ”. Then, on July 25, a new article:
"Apart from the special public who go to the post office to send their correspondence and samples, to touch or issue money orders, to write their telegrams, etc., many people have been visiting for ten days. 'Hôtel des Postes with the sole aim of satisfying their curiosity, (…). In fact, the spectacle is of undeniable interest. "
What we are creating here corresponds to a new type of consumption.
It's not just a hotel night, not a bar, it's a whole.
Laurent Taïeb, founder and artistic director of the Grand Hôtel de la Poste
The future Grand Hôtel de la Poste also intends to surprise by mixing both tourists and residents.
Helmet screwed on his head, Laurent Taïeb guides us on what is now his site, starting from the basement,
"as if we were going to deliver the hotel and the restaurant"
, he comments.
“It's something quite magical.
There are real delivery docks.
These are spaces that are totally disproportionate to what a hotel in the heart of Paris could afford, but which benefit all other businesses.
"
Here we are at the corner of the Cour Gutenberg.
“Not many people know it because it was occupied by a ramp that was always full of trucks.
It is a private street in which we will set up the tables for the brasserie.
Eighty meters long facing south-west.
We will be there as in a haven of peace, ”
he promises.
The entrance to the hotel is tiny.
“It's a real choice.
I wanted people to come through a back door in front of the immensity of this building, in an extremely discreet manner.
Concierges welcome you.
And from the moment you walk, the show begins ”.
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Historical presentation of the evolution of the Louvre post office building
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The building is not classified. But the volumes are magnificent: eight meters high under ceilings listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments. On the 300 m² ground floor, there is a bar for around 100 people and a brasserie with around 80 seats.
“I want to make it a place for everyone to live, open from 8 am to 2 am. "
A leitmotif for this iconoclastic entrepreneur who launched into the world of hotels after having created places of life that have become iconic in the catering industry in Paris: the café du Trésor in the Marais, Bon, rive gauche, Lô Sushi, adjoining des Champs-Élysées, Kong at the top of the Samaritaine.
“What we are creating here corresponds to a new type of consumption.
It's not just one night in a hotel, not just a bar, it's a set, ”
he explains.
Portrait of Laurent Taïeb, founder and artistic director of the Hôtel de la Poste du Louvre.
He poses on the terrace of the future hotel in Paris.
JC MARMARA / LE FIGARO
A garden on the roof
History emerges. On the ground floor,
“Dominique Perrault hardly touched anything. He has barely allowed himself a reinterpretation of the glass facades
, ”emphasizes our host. Craftsmen are at work: the Gohard workshops for the patinas, Lachapelle for the period fittings, Mathieu Lustrerie for exceptional lighting. The elevator elevates towards modernity. Ninety-three rooms, including eleven junior suites, occupy the third floor, on the site of the kiosks, small huts of technical rooms that the architect of the BnF has demolished.
The corridor follows the contours of the four streets of the islet. Forty-nine rooms open onto an interior designed like an Italian courtyard, with staggered loggias and balconies, dressed in vegetated iron nets. Thirty-three others face the museum exterior of the zinc roofs and monuments of the capital, the aesthetic of which explodes like a painting in the window frames. The 380, with a view of the Eiffel Tower, is designed like an artists' studio with a ceiling height varying from 3 to 4.20 meters and Velux windows under the ramp. A spacious room, 35 m², ten more than the smallest, and ten less than the suites, which are reminiscent of small lofts.
In this last category, the most spectacular is already the 347: a large entrance, a small living room and one leads to a vast room whose bay windows bring in the singular beauty of the roofs of old Paris sparkling under the changing sky and its monuments. The bed will be in the axis of Notre-Dame and the Pantheon. Between the still white walls and the black metal beams, there is nothing yet. But
“it will be very warm,
promises Laurent Taïeb.
There will be a lot of wood, oak floors, fabrics on the walls. The arbitrations will be done when we have the witness chamber, at the end of February ”.
A large and bright restaurant opens onto a wood and metal patio, topped with solar panels.
No swimming pool planned, but a wellness area, and surprisingly affordable prices for a 5-star,
"from 380 euros per night"
.
The highlight of the visit is on the roof.
This “rooftop” promises to be the next spot in the capital.
It is a hanging garden of 1000 m², 70 trees, where there will be sofas, cushions, tables, deckchairs.
And this unheard-of view of the Saint-Eustache church, the stolen terraces, the Bourse du Commerce transformed into a private museum for the contemporary art foundation of François Pinault.
We imagine having a drink there, settling there to listen to a concert… Paris is a party.
