Sleep in Sumptuous Style

Damask-covered walls and velvet headboards are just a few of the Belle Époque–style details on display at the Jacques Garcia–designed La Réserve Paris.

Photographs courtesy of La Reserve Paris Hotel and Spa

If there is a formula for creating the perfect hotel, it seems only fitting for the French to put a rarefied spin on it. Start with a historic building at a posh address—say, a few steps from the Champs-Élysées—throw in a designer with a reputation for grandeur, and watch as the world descends with all the excitement one would expect.

Such is the case at La Réserve Paris Hotel and Spa, the group’s first urban outpost. Beyond the discreet red-lacquered door, in a Haussmann-era mansion once owned by fashion designer Pierre Cardin, French architect and interiors virtuoso Jacques Garcia has blended Belle Époque–style detailing with clean-lined modern luxury. The 40 rooms are unapologetically lavish, with intricate crown moldings, velvet-upholstered headboards, and damask- and taffeta-clad walls. Period antiques appear throughout: marble-topped Louis XIV bombe chests; fluted brass-urn table lamps. The technology, however, from the tablet-operated climate controls to the in-room wine fridges, is remarkably cutting-edge.

Gilded wall panels and upholstered seats embrace opulence in the hotel's private lounge.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT An en suite living area complete with velvet settee, iron coffee table, and antique accents. Generously veined marble in one master bathroom. The hotel's red-lacquered entrance. La Réserve Paris's 50-foot lap pool.

It took more than 120 artisans, several from the Louvre, working over the course of two years to restore the building to its original splendor. That effort certainly pays off in the public spaces, where Garcia pulls out all the haute design stops. In the wood-paneled library lounge, emerald-hued tufted chairs and settees are positioned before a marble mantel embellished with an acanthus motif. Gold-leafed walls join contemporary Chippendale seating in the restaurant. A hand-painted mural in the smoking lounge evokes a 19th-century garden. And let’s not forget the spa’s three treatment rooms set around the 50-foot indoor pool—candlelit, of course. —Jennifer Fernandez

A mix of luxe textures—from a marble mantel and elegantly distressed hardwood flooring to a collection of damask-tufted chairs—creates an old-world vibe in the library lounge.