Wallpaper 6

ILLUSTRATOR: EOIN RYAN

L’OSCAR, LONDON

ARTFUL LODGE RARTFUL LODGE R

The best new hotels, from a decadent deco

revival and a barnstorming mill conversion

to a transformation of biblical proportions

3,500: Bottles of

Roja Dove perfume

made for L’Oscar as

its signature scent

An abandoned church on Southampton

Row in London’s Bloomsbury has been

transformed into the 39-room L’Oscar

hotel by Parisian architect and designer

Jacques Garcia (behind the Hôtel Costes

in Paris and the Danieli in Venice).

Evidence of the hotel’s ecclesiastical past

has been cleverly woven into the ornate

interior, which features a bold palette

of deep purple, red, petrol blue and canary

yellow. Original details, from tiled floors

to fireplaces with terracotta panels depicting

Biblical scenes, are scattered throughout.

Sharp-eyed guests will spot elements from

these panels creatively reinterpreted around

the hotel – check out the 495 Lalique-style

birds used as light fittings or the flora

and fauna embroidered into the bespoke

fabrics designed by Watts of Westminster.

The building’s Grade-II listed chapel

now houses the Baptist Grill, run by chef

Tony Fleming, and a bar is installed where

the church organ used to be. Ali Morris

2-6 Southampton Row, tel: 44.20 7405 5555,

loscar.com. Rates: from £390

It hardly seems possible that, after barely

45 minutes on the A10 from Paris, taking

exit 10 to Dourdan will bring you to this

remarkable slice of the French countryside.

Here, on a 200-hectare working stud

farm and horse-riding academy anchored

by a mirror-flat fish pond, Studio Be-Poles

has converted a handsome 19th-century

iron and steel barn and mill into a bucolic

71-room retreat with Shaker-inspired

interiors. Spaces are simply furnished with

Rue Hérold fabrics, rough-hewn furniture,

cork walls, and timber panels and flooring.

A herbarium yields plants and flowers

cultivated from the surrounding forest,

while the old mill houses a spa staffed by

a resident osteopath and physiotherapist,

and kitted out with Nordic baths, a steam

room and a hammam. Not surprisingly,

the food draws heavily on the land, the

locally-sourced menu featuring chicken

slow-cooked with hay and daisies, and

a cloud of spinach soufflé. Daven Wu

Moulin de Brétigny, lebarnhotel.com.

Rates: from €139

When the Lutetia hotel opened on Paris’

Left Bank in 1910, it became the talk of the

town, as much for embracing the emerging

art deco style as for being a hub for Paris’

intellectual elite (Matisse and Picasso

both took up residence there). Now, after

a lavish four-year restoration, the hotel

has been returned to its former glory.

Aided by a phalanx of skilled craftsmen,

architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte’s firm

has meticulously revived original details,

such as the stained-glass windows and

a fresco by Adrien Karbowsky. Fluted wood

panelling, brushed oak floors, handblown

Murano glass wall lights and rich textiles

in creamy caramel, aubergine and blue fill

the relatively understated guest rooms.

Six bars and restaurants, including the

Brasserie with three Michelin-starred chef

Gérald Passédat at the helm, celebrate the

hotel’s past as the place to see and be seen –

not least Bar Aristide, which promises

to revive Lutetia’s jazz heritage. Lauren Ho

45 Boulevard Raspail, tel: 33.1 49 54 46 00,

hotellutetia.com. Rates: from €659

Divine intervention

Glory days Pastoral symphony

LUTETIA, PARIS

73 : Desks, which

also function as

minibars, designed

by Studio Be-Poles

52 : Endemic plant

species, including

Geranium robertianum,

which were harvested

by Paris-based landscape

designer Daphné

Charles-Le Franc for Le

Barn’s herbarium

17 : Length in

metres of the

indoor swimming

pool, which

can be found in

the hotel’s

Akasha Holistic

Wellbeing Centre

108 : Age of the

Lutetia hotel, which

was opened by

Le Bon Marché

department store for

its important clients

9 : Months it took 20

people to restore

Adrien Karbowsky’s

original fresco in the

vault, now housing

Bar Aristide

495 : Lalique-style

bird light fittings

found throughout

2 : Number of

original fireplaces

with Royal Doulton

terracotta panels

LE BARN, BONNELLES

1,813: Square

metres of iron

sheet treated and

aged to match the

original structures

of the two barns,

which date from

the 1950s

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