Hotel Le Lutetia in Paris closes for renovation
Paris’s landmark art déco hotel, Le Lutetia, closed on Monday for renovations that will take three years and cost nearly 100 million euros.
Paris’ landmark luxury hotel Le Lutetia, whose guests included Pablo Picasso, Charles de Gaulle and James Joyce, closes Monday for a three-year renovation following similar makeover moves by rivals.
The seven-storey Art Deco hotel built in 1910 follows in the footsteps of the Crillon, Ritz and Plaza Athenee which have all closed for extensive revamps.
The hotel in the heart of the city’s chic Saint-Germain-des-Pres district was taken over by German officers occupying Paris in World War II.
French wartime hero De Gaulle spent his wedding night here. The establishment also attracted literary luminaries such as Andre Gide and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of “The Little Prince.”
“Le Lutetia has always been a beacon of the Left Bank,” said author Pierre Assouline, who has used the hotel as a setting for one of his novels.
French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte will oversee the renovations. The hotel was bought by the Israeli real estate group, Alrov in 2010.
The hotel is also selling its collection of artworks, over 3,000 pieces of furniture and 8,000 bottles of wine and spirits. The auction will take place between May 19 and 25, 2014 at the Hotel Lutetia.
