Luxury and refinement in Peace Street

A prestigious location in Paris, a historic facade and an interior with great potential. This is the beautifully adorned, but time-worn complex that ‘FRESH architectures’ has just restored with infinite skill. The result is quite simply stunning.

In the heart of an illustrious neighbourhood, not far from iconic monuments such as the Vendôme Column and the Opéra Garnier, is the Rue de la Paix. This street, owing its name to the signing of the 1814 peace treaty between France and other great powers after the first abdication of Napoleon I, has managed to preserve the tradition of French luxury over time. It is therefore in a specific context, with significant surroundings, that the mansion renovated by FRESH architectures presents itself.

The existing building, constructed in 1830 on the site of a former 18th-century mansion, was designed in a neoclassical style, characterised by period mouldings. Nevertheless, having undergone numerous transformations, the building had undeniable architectural qualities that the architects wanted to reveal. Some past changes, such as the creation of the glass workshop on the ground floor or the addition of the sixth floor by the architect Trubert, to house the workshop of the famous photographer André Taponier, characterised by three large openings and an Art Deco pediment, have changed the appearance of the building. Similar to other interventions, such as the construction of the central staircase, the raising of a floor for the building in the centre of the block and multiple developments had to be taken into consideration.

A challenging exercise

The programme is complex, but exciting according to Julien Rousseau, co-founder and partner of FRESH architectures, which has expertise in this kind of intervention. It should be remembered that the agency has a multitude of heavy rehabilitation references for famous locations. Despite everything, the exercise remains challenging and the surprises encountered during each cleaning are never the same. The building on Rue de la Paix consists of two main buildings. While one of the buildings overlooking the street houses shops on the ground floor, with offices above, the one in the centre of the block houses offices and required upgrading to fire safety standards. It should also be noted that there are several additions and low buildings, which create a certain heterogeneity as well as a fragmented and poorly connected whole. Not to mention the various interventions that have changed the appearance of the original building. The architects' task was therefore a laborious one. Each intervention, each act had to be studied in detail to restore the desired coherence to the work, without forgetting the programme aimed at creating a mixed complex integrating shops on the ground floor and flexible offices, distributed between the two entities of the historic building.

Magnifying the existing

Through what can be described as surgical interventions and a skilful interplay between old and new, FRESH architectures has magnified the existing structure. Thus, thanks to an updating of the original ornaments, the street facade has regained its 1830s character. The architects have clad the facades with footbridges located in the centre of the block and new glazed elements. These, inspired by the Art Deco aesthetic, resemble curtain walls whose waves pleasantly amplify the play of light inside the building. While the two inner courtyards have been stripped of inconvenient architectural additions, two footbridges link the buildings, facilitate certain accesses and increase the surface area and the variety of uses of the programme. The latter has additional offices as well as two green roof terraces accessible to all users. Inside the first historic building, the architects have created a vertical circulation system that not only facilitates mobility but also brilliantly meets the building's normative and safety requirements. Stéphane Pereira, one of the firm's associate architects, in turn emphasises the quality of the spaces found under the successive layers. The spaces revealed under the different layers of history have been magnified thanks to the work of FRESH architectures. A new showcase of excellence has been born at 12, rue de la Paix!