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WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS 17TH CENTURY WITH SLEEK?
The building itself dates back to the days when 17th Century composer Jean Baptiste Lully, sporting a periwig, stockings and a full-skirted coat, roamed the streets of Paris. Imagine, through a trick of time and space, he walks into the coolest of Cool jazz bars in Paris’ deepest Boho. That would be the soundtrack for this apartment - Cold Fusion, a style that seems to defy the laws of physics, a brilliantly designed home which could easily qualify as le pad le plus chill in the 7th Arrondissement. Easy to understand why. Here, the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg, one of the world’s most influential popular performing artists, is never far away. He, with his pop art designing father and highly cultured sisters, lived on this block. In fact, his sisters still own this apartment. Gainsbourg’s father designed much of the furniture and lighting in this amazing and spacious flat. But we digress. You’ve got that 10-day work detail in Paris, and you want comfort. She wants great shopping. You may have to host a business meeting or two. And, underlying all of it, you want to have the sense that you’re in Paris, the real Paris, the city so beloved by bohemians and businessmen alike. You want space, but you want to feel artful, to really feel you’re getting away from it all. Your high school glee club mate, ensconced in Europe since college, might even come and spend a couple of nights. It’s hard to imagine a place more perfectly suited to your needs. The location alone would make any self-respecting American shopper salivate: the Rive Gauche, Boulevard St. Germain, the wild and wonderful boho mercantile mecca of Paris. You’re around the corner from the wonderful Orsay museum. The storied Hotel Lutetia, home of jazz, is just down the block. And Poilane pastry shop is worth the price of admission for those morning croissants and afternoon napoleons.
The Apartment
Simply put, this place will mark your most unforgettable stay in Paris. The apartment is 1300 sq. ft. in size. Two bedrooms, two baths, great living room, a dining room with a round table fit for any business meeting you need to have… this doesn’t begin to describe this apartment, which is located in a 17th Century landmark building.
Entering this sprawling, high-ceilinged apartment on the second floor (the Parisian preservationists won’t allow an elevator in buildings this old) you are immediately greeted by Art with a capital ‘A’. The arrangement of objects and unusual lighting fixtures lets you know you’re somewhere special, opulent, unlike any space you’ve been in before. You’ll spend the first 15 minutes gawking as you walk around the space, taking it in.
The living room is immense, and elegantly furnished with chaises longues and a huge sectional couch. Floor-to-ceiling windows make up one wall, and you look out onto a lovely, ancient Parisian streetscape. The dining room, too, is extremely spacious, with a round table that comfortably seats eight floating in the center.
The bedrooms and kitchen are studies in planes of color. The beds float in space with colored panels behind them; the kitchen, magnificently appointed well beyond what you might need to enjoy your morning coffee and your Poilane croissant, is a high speed train of functionality and sheer form, with planes of red at one end.
And the baths… you won’t want to leave the bathrooms. Deep bathtub, planes of white and black, Swiss shower heads… all designed for your deep comfort.
You may think you need to come to Paris to work more often after having the experience of staying here. And we would be the first to agree.
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