The French Connection
The ‘hôtels particuliers’ of France’s capital are oozing with art and history and are just waiting to be discovered. Sybilla Hart takes a trip to our nearest neighbour to unravel some mysteries
Above: L'Hotel Crillon
The ‘hôtels particuliers’ of Paris have been somewhat overlooked by the Parisian tourist. Too busy racing up and down the Seine on a tourist boat, running up and down the steps of Notre Dame or rushing off to Versailles for the day, the hôtel particulier has been left off the tourist’s radar.
An ‘hôtel particulier’ is a former private mansion that has typically been bought by, or given to the state and often houses a fabulous art collection.
The couple that owned the Musée Jacquemart André, located in the 8th arrondissement, donated the magnificent house and its entire art collection to the people of France. Edouard André, the scion of a Protestant banking family, devoted his time and considerable fortune to buying works of art to exhibit in his new mansion. The building, constructed on the new Boulevard Haussmann was completed in 1875. At the time, many of the aristocracy moved to what was then the village of Monceau (now part of central Paris) as the plots of land were large and appropriate for vast residences. Zola accurately described this trend in his novel, La Curée (The Kill) as ‘a display, a profusion, an overwhelming amount of wealth.’ Edouard André married a well-known society painter, Nélie Jacquemart who drew his portrait.
Every year the couple would travel to Italy amassing what was to be one of the finest collections of Italian art in France. Perhaps the most striking sight in the museum is the double staircase decorated with a Tiepolo fresco in the Winter Garden. The wonderfully ornate staircase was created by the architect Henri Parent who was seeking to outdo Charles Garnier, designed of the Paris Opera house.
Not all hôtels particuliers bear witness to such happy stories. The beautiful Hôtel Camondo, situated in the 17th arrondissement was home to Comte Moïse de Camondo. He was born in Istanbul in 1860 into a Sephardic Jewish family that owned one of the largest banks in the Ottoman Empire. A passionate collector of French furniture and art objects from the 18th century, Moïse amassed a collection of quite outstanding quality. In 1911, he hired architect René Sergent to build a private mansion next to Parc Monceau that would be suitable for his collection of art and family. In fact, the Hôtel Camondo was modelled after Marie Antoinette’s famous Petit Trianon in Versailles. The family history is deeply sad, and left me feeling totally numb after my visit to the house. Moïse married a beautiful 18-year-old heiress who bore him two children before she ran off with his Italian racehorse trainer. Their son Nissim was to inherit the mansion but tragically died in an airstrike in WWI. Heartbroken, Moïse bequeathed the house and its contents to the Arts decoratifs.
His only stipulation was that the house be maintained as a museum and named for his son. The museum opened the year after Moïse de Camondo died, in 1935. In a truly awful turn of events, his daughter, son-in-law and their two infant children, Fanny and Bertrand were seized by the Nazis and taken to camps, where they all perished during WWII. Despite the gargantuan contribution the family had made to the French nation, seemingly no one was able to prevent this and the family line came to an end.
On the other side of Paris in the historic Marais district you can find the vast Carnavalet museum. Devoted to the history of Paris, the Carnavalet occupies two adjoining mansions (the Hôtel Le Peletier de St-Fargeau and the Hôtel Carnavalet). They include richly decorated rooms with panelling, furniture and numerous works of art. The main building was built as a town house in 1548 and in the mid-1600s this Renaissance jewel became the home of writer Madame de Sévigné. A French aristocrat, Madame de Sévigné is remembered for her witty correspondences to her daughter. The Hôtel Carnavalet even contains an ancient recipe for frog-leg soup, and Robespierre’s final Letter.
Just a short walk away, tucked behind the Place de Vosges is the Hôtel de Sully. The renovation of the Hôtel de Sully paved the way for much of the restoration of the Marais, which was lying in tatters in the 1960s (at the end of the 18th century, the Marais was losing its popularity amongst the aristocracy who had lived there for two centuries.) A former minister of Henri IV, the Duc de Sully, once resided here. The cobblestone-paved front courtyard features a celebrated series of sculptures representing the four elements and the two seasons. Inside the Hôtel de Sully there is an extensive bookshop selling books with a focus on historical Paris.
At the other side of the Place de Vosges you will find the former residence of Victor Hugo, the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée. I would highly recommend a visit to the Victor Hugo museum. During the rehearsals of Victor Hugo’s play, Le Roi s’amuse, the playwright settled on the former Place Royale (it was named the Place des Vosges after the Revolution). A lease for the rental of the apartment was signed for Victor Hugo in 1833 who lived there until 1848. Previously, the mansion belonged to aristocratic families such as the de Rohans. A present day tour of the apartment displays the three stages of his life, Before the Exile, During the Exile and After the Exile. Hugo became a member of the constitutional government of King Louis Philippe, but when Louis Napoleon III reinstated the Empire in 1851 Hugo fled in exile first to Brussels, then to the Channel Islands where he wrote, Les Miserables, his celebrated novel about the poor of Paris. After the fall of Napoleon III in 1870, Victor Hugo returned to France triumphantly. He became a member of the National Assembly and a senator of the Third French Republic.
As well as a writer, Hugo was also an accomplished interior decorator and the apartment is still as it was in the 19th century. The antechamber evokes memories of his childhood, leading on to his marriage to his childhood sweetheart Adele Foucher and the birth of their children. Leader of the Romantic Movement, Victor Hugo entertained his literary friends in the red drawing room.
In direct contrast to the historical hotel particulier, the achingly cool ‘21st century palace’ Murano Urban Resort is the ultimate place to stay. The façade of the 19th-century building subtly fuses a sense of classicism and modernism. Located at the top of the fashionable Marais district, the Murano hotel boasts a DJ, live music and a buzzing bar. The bathrooms have been designed by Philippe Starck and are littered with the hotel’s own line of cosmetics. Oh, and even the loo paper is black! It seems there is no end to the Murano’s modernity.
A visit to the Hôtel de Crillon’s two-Michelin starred gourmand restaurant, Les Ambassadeurs is an absolute must. The building, commissioned by Louis XV for the Count de Crillon in 1788, remained in the Crillon family until 1907, when the trustees of the Louvre Foundation acquired it and transformed it into a ‘palace hotel.’ I first visited the Crillon as a 17-year-old girl and was totally mesmerised by the sky-high ceilings and duchess style luxury.
The surroundings are as opulent as the food – the work of art of acclaimed chef Jean-Francois Piege. The culinary experience of Les Ambassadeurs was so beautifully orchestrated it could be likened to a trip to the theatre, only definitely more exciting.
Rooms at the Murano start from €350
Murano Hotel, 13 Boulevard du Temple, Paris 75003.+ 33 (0) 1 42 71 20 00; www.muranoresort.com
Hôtel de Crillon, Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris.+ 33 (0) 1 44 71 16 16; www.crillon.com