Owner: Les Hôtels Monsieur
Interior design: Anouska Hempel
Furnishings: Interna Asia Pacific
Lightings: Anouska Hempel Design collection
Photo Credits: Benoit Linero, Gaelle Le Boulicaut
The five-star hotel is located inside a typical Haussmann-style building in the heart of the 8th arrondissement, once the residence in the 20th century of the famous, versatile French actor Jules Auguste Muraire, also known as Raimu. Monsieur George, complying with the policies of the Monsieur Hotel Collection, takes its name from the street – in this case Rue Washington – in a literal tribute to the first American president.
The interior design reveals cosmopolitan influences, in the très chic approach of the English designer Anouska Hempel, who has nimbly blended oriental and occidental echoes in a series of seductive, luxurious settings, suggesting comfortable domestic atmospheres, with an accent on variety.
Each of the five levels has its own style, relying on skillful combinations of materials, colors and details, bringing out the sumptuous lushness of velvets, the preciousness of marble, mosaics and other facings.
The color scheme in the public areas and the 46 standard guestrooms is rigorous: dark green in all its tonal variants, ebony and shades of brown, with a surprising truce in the suites on the upper level, which feature bright whites and pale grays.
From the Checker Rooms, with checked flooring, to the Windsor Rooms, clad in greyhound-colored velvet and silvery taffeta, the romantic, dazzling glamour is underlined by furnishings in in églomisé gilding, mirrors and black lacquer finishes, faucets in brushed brass standing out against the black marble of the bathrooms.
On the upper levels, the ‘cloud’ suites – inspired by the vision of floating white clouds – offer a fine view of all of Paris. The Junior Suites and Benjamin Franklin Suites, steeped in ton-sur-ton whites and pale gray, have soft lighting and atmosphere, billowy curtains with Kerala flower relief for the terraces.
The Marly suite is a jade green duplex featuring a lush private garden on the ground floor, a reference to the iconic French gardens of Marly, created for Louis XIV at Versailles.
Pleasures for the eyes and the taste buds. Also on the ground floor, the Galanga gourmet restaurant and bar is in emerald green for the velvet seats, the marble tabletops and the Moroccan zellige tiles installed in a herringbone pattern; the lighting of the spaces is done with suspension and table lamps designed by Anouska Hempel, with the help of large windows in Crittall style and an octagonal skylight. The semi-basement contains a fitness room and wellness center run by Le Tigre, with evocative vaulted ceilings.
