When the Lutetia Hotel first opened in 1910, it was the talk of the town for embracing the then-emerging Art Deco style, as much as for being a hub for Paris’s intellectual elite, from André Gide to Matisse and Picasso, who both took up residence there. Since 2025, Lutetia has been managed by Mandarin Oriental, which remains committed to preserving its heritage and singular identity while offering the legendary service and hospitality for which the brand is known. Its next cameo? The upcoming fourth season of Mike White’s HBO series The White Lotus.
Wallpaper* checks in at Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris
What’s on your doorstep?
The hotel anchors itself in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where literary ghosts linger in café corners. Just opposite, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche hums with its own rhythm, a labyrinth of fashion, food and curiosities that spills into the surrounding streets. From here, a short wander leads to the Louvre’s grandeur, the Musée d’Orsay’s Impressionist hush, the leafy calm of the Luxembourg Gardens and the contemporary edge of Fondation Cartier, placing Lutetia at the crossroads of the city’s past and present.
Who is behind the design?
In 2018, after four years under the knife, the landmark hotel emerged from a lavish restoration that restored it to its former glory. Assisted by a team of skilled craftsmen, French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte’s firm meticulously revived the building’s original details, such as the stained glass windows and the ceiling fresco painted by Adrien Karbowsky.
The hotel’s completion in 1910 – a period of transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco –marked a broad and significant launch point for Wilmotte, who stripped back the building’s greatly adapted interiors to create an aesthetic more aligned with the original exterior. The pièce de résistance is a series of intricately detailed terraces and balconies that both incorporate and contribute to the hotel’s stunning façade – a fitting crown for a Paris grande dame.
The room to book
The understated interiors of the guestrooms are revealed through tactile fluted wood panelling, brushed oak flooring, hand-blown Murano glass wall lights, and rich textiles in a creamy caramel, aubergine and blue palette. Among the 49 suites at Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, the Signature Suites are the true jewels of the hotel, where design is modern and grand in equal parts. Lashings of Carrara marble – found in bathrooms – accompany gold accents, Murano glass, varnished wood and bronze, for a rich tapestry of colour and texture.
In the two-bedroom Josephine Baker Suite with Eiffel View Terrace, for example, the Jazz Age legend lives on via photographic art and warm, elegant furnishings that include a pair of Marco Zanuzo armchairs and bespoke lanterns. Over in the St Germain Penthouse, designed in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, an inventive concept is debuted whereby the famed director has infused the space with scripts, stills and personal photos. The theme is mirrored in The Eiffel Writer’s Suite, where hundreds of books coalesce with golden oak fittings and literary-inspired art.
Staying for drinks and dinner?
On the ground floor, four bars and restaurants celebrate the hotel’s past as the place to see and be seen – Bar Aristide, promises to revive Lutetia’s jazz heritage, while all-day Brasserie Lutetia has been a meeting point for more than a century, from bright breakfast to candlelit dinners.
Beneath Fabrice Hyber’s painted glass canopy, Le Saint-Germain serves tea by Nicolas Guercio and an evening menu by Alessio Maselli. After dark, Bar Josephine brings floor-to-ceiling frescoes, Wilmotte detail and Serge Clerc-inspired cocktails, including the citrus-bright Un Soir D’Orange.
Where to switch off
Below ground, Akasha Spa gives Lutetia its reset button. The 7,500 sq ft wellness space is arranged around the four elements: nutrition for earth, breathing rituals and yoga for air, the gym for fire and a 17-metre pool for water. Glass and mirrors keep the subterranean level from feeling buried. Treatments include myBlend’s Essential Treatment, a one-hour anti-ageing facial using the CellSynergy device with massage to lift, firm and sculpt.
The verdict
Mandarin Oriental Lutetia is not trying to become a new Paris hotel. It is better than that: a Left Bank landmark, sharpened for the present, with the service, suites and screen-ready glamour to carry its next chapter. The forthcoming White Lotus appearance will bring another wave of attention, but looking at the elite clientele that visits Lutetia, it’s clear it hardly needs the cameo.
Mandarin Oriental Lutetia is located at 45 Bd Raspail, 75006 Paris, France