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Key figures

Origin and history

The Elysée Palace, built in 1898 by architect Georges Chedanne for the Cot Car Company, was the first large hotel in the Champs Elysées. Inaugurated in 1899, it embodied Parisian Art Nouveau with a facade adorned with naturalist sculptures and an innovative central hall, offering luxurious services such as shops or an art gallery. Designed for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, it attracted a world-class clientele before closing in 1919, a victim of the economic consequences of the First World War.

The building, bought in 1922 by Crédit Commercial de France (CCF), lost its original interior decorations. Ranked a historic monument in 1991 for its façade and roofs, it will successively house the CCF, HSBC France, and will be sold in Qatar in 2010. In 2023, LVMH announced its transformation into the first Louis Vuitton hotel, with a controversial renovation including a temporary structure in the shape of a giant trunk, evoking the identity of the brand.

The hotel was the scene of significant events: in 1911, composer Gustav Mahler stayed there, sick, before his death; In 1917, the spy Mata-Hari was arrested there in room 113. Its remarkable architectural elements include eight bowl-windows, oculi carved by Lefèbvre, Gasq, Baralis and Sicard, as well as plant garlands, testimonies of Art Nouveau aesthetics. Despite its bank conversion, the building retains a strong heritage value, linked to its worldly and artistic history.

The current renovation (2023–2027), led by LVMH, aims to restore the hotel for an opening scheduled for 2026. The roofing of the building by a wooden and aluminium structure, stylized in Louis Vuitton trunk, divides public and political opinion, stressing the tensions between historical heritage and commercial modernity. This project is part of a dynamic of rehabilitation of major Parisian hotels, symbols of a tourist and cultural golden age.

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