The spirit of the place

p.112 IN THE 8TH ARRONDISSEMENT BEHIND MAURICE NOVARINA’S BRUTALIST FACADE THE HÔTEL DE BERRI PAYS HOMAGE TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF PARISIAN ARTISTS AND FASHION DESIGNERS.

Rue de Berri was the home of the king of Belgium, the princess Mathilde Bonaparte, and Elsa Schiaparelli with her court of artists and intellectuals. Where private residences once stood at numbers 18, 20 and 22, the architect and urbanist Maurice Novarina built a large office building in 1972 with a Brutalist facade 54 meters long. But don’t be fooled: inside there is another world, with which the Dokhan family of French hoteliers pays homage to the history and spirit of the zone, opening the Hôtel de Berri, a Luxury Collection Hotel. «When we bought the building there was nothing, not even the floor, but we wanted to create a memory of the people who lived here, a dreamy Parisian allure», says the owner Stephan Dokhan. Far from the reigning minimalism, Hôtel de Berri is an eclectic blend of art and design (with pieces by Giacometti, Jean-Michel Frank, Madeleine Castaing, Henri Samuel and David Hicks, among many others), along with antiques belonging to the Dokhan family, like the clock in the restaurant that belonged to Stephan’s grandmother, or the large table at the entrance, taken from a country home. There is also a fine collection of statues and busts from the atelier de moulage, the workshop that produces replicas of sculptures of all the museums in France, including the Louvre and Versailles. The bar Le Bizazz, with the sarcophagus of the Nereids as its counter, faces an internal English-style garden of 3000 square meters. The interiors by designer Philippe Renaud are as eccentric as a Surrealist coffer, in the seamless tribute to the great figures of fashion and art, and to the taste of the Dokhan family. The lobby is a triumph of marble and bright colors, referencing the hôtels particuliers of the zone, a sensation that is reinforced by the presence of about 40 period fireplaces. In the 75 rooms (35 of them suites), black & white is banned as boring: lively hues, parchments, Chinese antiques, wrought iron lamps, silk velvets, genuine sketches and paintings depicting the creations of stylists like Jeanne Lanvin, Coco Chanel and – of course - Elsa Schiaparelli, who lived at this address for over 40 years. Along the walls of the Le Schiap restaurant, helmed by the chef Michele Dalla Valle, a grand fresco by the living artist Hippolyte Romain represents Paris in the past. «Everything is invented here», Dokhan says, «but it is not fake. We have recreated something that really did exist: the spirit of the place».