The only grand palace hotel on the Left Bank — an Art Nouveau landmark whose century runs through Picasso and Joyce, the Occupation, and the return of the deported in 1945.
At a glance
The Lutetia stands on the Boulevard Raspail in the 6th arrondissement, the Left Bank’s one true palace hotel. Built in 1910 for the family behind the Bon Marché department store opposite, it carries a history far heavier than luxury: an emblem of Saint-Germain that was also a centre of exile, occupation and, finally, homecoming.
History
The hotel was built in 1910 by the Boucicaut family, owners of Le Bon Marché across the square, to lodge the store’s suppliers and provincial customers. They gave the commission to the architects Louis-Charles Boileau and Henri Tauzin, who designed a façade poised between Art Nouveau and the first stirrings of Art Deco.
In the late 1930s the Lutetia became a gathering place for anti-Nazi German exiles, among them the writer Heinrich Mann and the young Willy Brandt. During the Occupation the Germans requisitioned it as a base for the Abwehr, their military intelligence service. When Paris was liberated in August 1944 the meaning of the building reversed: in 1945 it became the reception centre where returning prisoners of war, deportees and concentration-camp survivors were registered and searched for by their families. The hotel reopened in 2018 after a four-year restoration.
What you see
Boileau and Tauzin’s façade is sculpted with grapes and vines and topped by carved figures, its arched windows and stained glass marking the transition out of Art Nouveau.
The great salons, frescoes and glasswork inside were conserved in the 2018 restoration, which stripped later additions back to the 1910 fabric while adding a modern wing behind.
Cultural significance
No other Paris hotel holds this double memory. In the same rooms that hosted artists and writers of Saint-Germain, families waited in 1945 for survivors of the camps to walk through the door. A plaque on the façade keeps that history public, and it is why the Lutetia is read as a monument as much as a hotel.
Key facts
- Built: 1910, for the Boucicaut family (owners of Le Bon Marché)
- Architects: Louis-Charles Boileau and Henri Tauzin
- Style: Art Nouveau turning toward Art Deco
- WWII: Abwehr base, then 1945 reception centre for returning deportees
- Location: 45 Boulevard Raspail, 6th arrondissement; reopened 2018
Practical information & getting there
The hotel faces the Square Boucicaut and the Bon Marché. Nearest Métro: Sèvres–Babylone (lines 10, 12). The bar, brasserie and salons are open to non-residents.
Sources & resources
- Sortiraparis — “Le Lutetia, a century of history between luxury, art and resistance”
- Wilmotte & Associés — Hôtel Lutetia (2018 restoration): wilmotte.com
- Paris 1900 — L’Hôtel Lutetia (Art Nouveau register): paris1900.lartnouveau.com
- e-architect — Hôtel Lutetia, Saint-Germain-des-Prés
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