TRISTAN AUER REINVENTS THE SPIRIT OF PARIS AT HOTEL SCRIBE

Posted in News, Projects on 4 May, 2018

Hotel Scribe, managed by Sofitel, part of the AccorHotels group, has begun a refurbishment that will culminate in the hotel’s metamorphosis to be completed by autumn 2019. A Paris institution, Hotel Scribe has joined forces with Wilson Associates and its artistic director Tristan Auer to restore the hotel to its former glory. Recognised this year as one of the world’s leading decorators and designers, Auer seeks to reinterpret the traditional hospitality codes for Hotel Scribe by drawing inspiration from its history. The hotel, which will remain open during its transformation, aims to embody the spirit of Paris by emphasising its core assets, namely its location in the Opera district, its new design and its food and beverage offering.

HOTEL SCRIBE: 150 YEARS OF HISTORY

An ideal location in the heart of Paris, Hotel Scribe is a legendary hotel in the centre of Paris, built as part of the Opera district’s initial development. The city’s alluring department stores, exciting Grands Boulevards, elegant rue de la Paix, luxurious Place Vendôme, world-famous Louvre, charming Palais Royal and beguiling arcades are nearby. Hotel Scribe, which was also home to many artists and celebrities, including Josephine Baker, who made it her Paris residence until 1968.

A DELICATE, RESOLUTELY PARISIAN DESIGN

Proud of its heritage, Hotel Scribe has always been a meeting place for brilliant minds, visionary or eccentric spirits, elegant Parisian ladies-who-lunch, and artists from around the world. Its walls echo with the conversations, encounters and laughter witnessed throughout history, as when the greatest names in American and Canadian journalism attended General Eisenhower’s press conferences at Hotel Scribe after the liberation of Paris.

“This is a building that has always been closely connected to images: the moving image – cinema – and photographic images, especially during the way when it was a communications centre,” says Tristan Auer. “It was also the first building in the world to be draped for an advertising campaign. What’s more, it has a fantastic history!”

Tristan Auer’s designs for the guestrooms recall a Parisian apartment, with fireplaces, mouldings, wainscoting and fabric headboards. Bathroom ceilings reflect the colours of the Oper Garnier’s ceiling as painted by Chagall, a beautiful reference to the area. The bas-reliefs, medallions and vases evoke artists’ studios, a nod to Paris museums. A selection of vibrant, colourful works in various abstract styles by young French artists decorates the walls. The bathrooms feature terrazzo floors; upper wooden moulding evoking a typical 19th-century atmosphere, with superimposed materials, folding screens, ceramics, wood and tiling. Tristan Auer specially designed the dressing gown hooks to resemble picture rails. Rose-gold faucets are in contrast to the hotel’s ‘men’s club’ with subtle, refined touches. To contrast the masculine side, he created guestrooms and a tearoom that are more feminine, angelic and sensitive while revisiting the mood of a Haussmannian apartment typical of Paris.

Hotel Scribe will undergo a complete refurbishment from April 2018 to autumn 2019, but remain open during the entire renovation. Travellers can discover the first guest rooms as soon as September 2018. Recalling Parisian pieds-a-terre, they will feature the codes of the capital’s Haussmannian architecture.