Hotel Lutetia Paris - Belle Epoque or Art Deco?

Paris' Hotel Lutetia, built in 1910, is now over 100 years old. From the first details of the 1907 commission, the facade was supposed to set the tone and reflect the hotel’s prestigious character. Note the elaborate sculpture created by Léon Binet and the stained glass windows. Slightly decadent, to be sure, and very Belle Epoque.

This ornate building is located on 45 Blv Raspail in the 6th Arrondissement. Undoubtedly pre-World War One visitors would have loved the Saint-Germain-des-Pres district, the River Seine, Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower. In fact 1910 was the very year that the hotel's neighbour, Le Bon Marche department store, began selling classy fashions to those who could afford them.

Hotel Lutetia, Saint-Germain-des-Pres

In its own historical documents, the hotel records that the famous brasseries and cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Le Procope, Le Lipp, Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, became a melting pot of intellectual debate. Café society started in the late C19th and continued to blossom in the C20th. This Left Bank area become the centre for Bohemian literary, musical and artistic types, including Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Dancer Josephine Baker, who moved to Paris in 1925 to perform at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, made Hotel Lutetia her second home. Picasso painted Guernica in his atelier in Rue des Grands Augustins. Baldaccini César's sculpture of Gustave Eiffel was added to the hotel interior, to stress the connection between the hotel and its Saint-Germain-des-Prés artiness.

Eventually the good times came to an end in Paris. The French government evacuated Paris in June 1940 and Hotel Lutetia was one of the hotels requisitioned by the Gestapo during Germany's occupation of the city. Hotel Lutetia was not the only famous hotel taken over by the German forces - Hotel Meurice on the Right Bank, for example, was the site allocated to the German military. I am not familiar with this murky part of the Lutetia’s history, so I recommend you read Quazen. After Paris was liberated, the Lutetia clearly had a more optimistic and helpful role to play; it became a centre for family searches and reunions.

Hotel Lutetia, Deco bar and lounge today

Eventually the Lutetia returned to its real role in history as a splendid hotel.

In the late 1980s, designer Sonia Rykiel opened a boutique in the building, and supervised a major redesign of the interior, restoring the splendid Art Deco of earlier decades. Athletic, naked Deco women in bronze hold up lamps; the Lalique crystal chandeliers are classy; and plush red velvet furniture looks intimate. Hundreds of art objects were placed throughout the hotel’s public spaces and 231 rooms.  And like the Radisson Blu Le Dokhan’s Hotel in Paris, cabinets displaying Louis Vuitton accessories are placed alongside the reception desk.

The centenary celebrations in 2010 were very colourful! Now only one question remains. The hotel was opened for business in 1910 and Art Deco was not popular until 1925 and throughout the 1930s. So what did the interior of Hotel Lutetia really look like, in its original state?