Paris is suffused in relatively compact boutique hotels that boast stylish features and distinctive narratives but they’re mostly concentrated within the flashy and glitzy Right Bank. Few emerge from the quainter and more artsy Left Bank. That all changed with the recent opening of Sax Paris, a 118-key ultra-luxury accommodation at the core of Hilton’s French expansion.
Managed through its premium LXR Hotels & Resorts brand and imagined by major commercial developer Compagnie de Phalsbourg (CDP), the stately destination makes good use of the late 19th century Neo-Gothic telecommunications building it occupies and has a 16-foot outdoor heated pool to boot. There’s also a slew of distinct hard and soft product amenities.
The main attraction here, however, is the unparalleled direct view of the Eiffel tower, not to mention Les Invalide, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre, and even a hint of Notre Dame. The already hard-to-book, Parisian hotspot Kinugawa Rive Gauche restaurant frames this 270-degree perspective with its wrap-around floor-to-ceiling windows. On offer, a fusion of French and Japanese classics. The space is cast in a clever interplay of raw composite materials and polished metal finishes cohesively brought together in upholstered hues of golden brown, salmon, and muted orange.
Karine Journo – wife of CDP founder Philippe Journo – enacted a comprehensive interior outfit that’s pared-back yet textured, urban yet coastal, dramatically dark yet iridescent, but perhaps most importantly, reflective of its surroundings: the rich cultural pedigree of the 7th Arrondissement. It isn’t just the soaring and champagne sparkle-lit Eiffel Tower straight down the sightline of Avenue Saxe but also the Rodin Museum and the myriad art and design galleries that populate the part of town just to the north. Jardin du Luxembourg and the artistically significant Montparnasse Cemetery aren’t far either. The Giacometti Institute sits along its edge.
Rendered in a ceiling mural depicting Marianne (the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution) created by noted talent MTO, the ground-level Le SAX restaurant is accentuated by a custom, abstract plant-like Genetic Variations chandelier by noted Italian artist Christian Pellizzari that was handblown in Murano. The coffee cups used are from the Rodin Museum and are emblazoned in line delineations of the famous The Thinker sculpture.
As part of the LXR Hotels & Resorts Pursuit of Adventure program, hotel guests can get exclusive private access and tours of the institution. They can also reserve the brand’s private jet – on standby at nearby Le Bourget Airport – for short trips to St. Moritz or Saint Tropez. The latter inspired some of the rest of the decor. While black, slightly shinny, tiles define the passage wary between Le SAX, the lobby – replete with a Baccarat Crystal chandelier – and the elevator bays, woven rattan wallpaper – reminiscent of a seaside getaway – define the hallways on subsequent floors. Red carpeting and medium wood trim ties everything together.
In the different guest rooms and suites (no two follow the same layout), the stylistic mix of city and coast renders in a sophisticated palette of mirrored surfaces with a golden tint, slightly roughly hewn marble table tops, a formal feature echoed in graphical wall-to-wall carpeting. Some of the wooden oak furnishings – including rotating minibar monoliths – have been finished in hand-chiseled treatment. Though such interventions might come across as heavy handed, they’re more tempered and nuanced. Straight-lines and consider proportioning imbue these spaces with a sense of modernity. The final touch: cast bronze handles articulated with a certain Brancusi-esque organism. The same vocabulary echoes in distinct bathroom sink taps.
Some rooms and suites face the inner courtyard or “SAX Garden” – designed by local practice Studio Ravn as a sophisticated interpretation of a classical French garden – or the street. In the latter, custom fold out mirrors were fitted to the windows as the reflect-in view of the Eiffel Tower down the way.
What: Sax Paris Hotel
Where: Paris
How much: $605 per night
Design draws: A Neo-Gothic telecommunication’s building turned into an ultra-luxury getaway blend nods to the coastal setting and city; the immediate surroundings of the culturally entrenched 7th Arrondissement.
Book it: Sax Paris Hotel
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Photography by Claire Israel, courtesy LXR Hotels & Resorts.
