Pierre‑Yves Rochon reframes Four Seasons George V hotel as Paris apartments

four seasons paris — (Image credit: Photography by Ambroise Tezenas)

What is design’s relationship with architecture, if not a constant dialogue across eras? French interior designer Pierre‑Yves Rochon’s long-standing relationship with the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris wholeheartedly exemplifies this notion.

Their dialogue began ahead of the Parisian hotel’s opening in 1999 – within a landmark 1928 building – when Rochon was commissioned to conceive its palatial interiors. From the outset, his approach resisted overt modernisation, instead allowing contemporary nuance to sit within the building’s classical framework. The result was an art deco-inflected palace calibrated for modern luxury.

Yet, Rochon is not a creative who easily considers a project fully complete. Instead, his work is defined by return, revision, and long-term stewardship, a singular method evident in his work at Hôtel Ritz Paris and Hôtel de Crillon. At the George V, this approach has unfolded across decades. Its latest chapter marks the completion of a three-year renovation of all 243 rooms and suites, carried out while the hotel remained fully operational.

Tour the refreshed Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris

‘Today, luxury is not about ostentation; it lies in the quiet quality of volumes, light, and materials’
Pierre-Yves Rochon

The ambition was precise: to shift the experience from hotel accommodation to Parisian residence. Rooms are conceived as apartments rather than suites, framed through a Haussmannian sensibility. Vestibules replace corridors; circulation is intuitive; dressing rooms borrow from couture ateliers; libraries and dining areas reinforce the domestic. Louis XVI furniture, 19th-century artworks, and contemporary pieces are layered with restraint.

‘Through this renovation, we wanted to achieve a place to inhabit, to embrace, and to cherish as a home away from home. Today, luxury is not about ostentation; it lies in the quiet quality of volumes, light, and materials,’ explains Rochon. ‘To design an interior is to tell a story; at the George V, that story is of a cultivated and timeless Paris that continues to reinvent itself.’

Rochon’s redesign was guided by four principles: domestic life structuring the plan; light treated as a material, drawn deep inside through new sightlines and French windows; technology discreetly embedded via a bespoke system developed with Henri; and craft as the constant: patinated oak Versailles parquet, Carrara marble, Baccarat crystal, textiles by Charles Burger and Dedar, Houlès trimmings, and hand-tufted rugs.

Three signature suites articulate the project most clearly. Remarkably, the renovation reduced the hotel’s key count by just one, following the creation of the Parisian Eiffel Tower Suite: a move the hotel’s general manager, Thibaut Dreg, attributes to ‘the house’s enduring impulse to reinvent itself’. Two former technical rooms with Eiffel Tower views were reimagined as a duplex suite.

At the summit, the Penthouse Suite has become the hotel’s most coveted address, with the Eiffel Tower framed across three private terraces. Its vocabulary is romantic yet controlled: a green chenille silk sofa by J Robert Scott, an ivory-lacquered circular bookcase with pearlescent floral detailing, softly patinated gold-leaf ceilings, and a boudoir-style dressing room lit by Baccarat sconces. Sculptural marble basins are offset by floral compositions by Jeff Leatham.

The Eiffel Parisian Suite adopts a more architectural, family-oriented register. A primary suite connects to two additional bedrooms, unified by a pale blue and off-white palette. Villari ceramics, Artemest vases and restored porcelain light fittings sit alongside a Calacatta Oro marble fireplace, while reception rooms open onto two enclosed, landscaped terraces furnished with black wrought-iron pieces by Hervé Baume.

By contrast, the Parisian Suite is intimate and light-driven. Classical proportions are preserved, anchored by an emerald-green lacquered bar. Works by Gérard Redoulès, antique lithographs and ceramic objects are set against a palette of sea green, ivory and light taupe, punctuated with restrained gilding.

‘It’s a place to live, to make your own, to love as one would a Parisian home’
Pierre-Yves Rochon

For Rochon, the renovation fundamentally reframes the hotel as a residential address. As he puts it: ‘It’s a place to live, to make your own, to love as one would a Parisian home. It’s where classic and contemporary aesthetics converge, all while continually pushing the boundaries of modern hospitality.’

Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris is located at 31 Av. George V, 75008 Paris, France

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Sofia de la Cruz is the Travel Editor at Wallpaper*. A self-declared flâneuse, she feels most inspired when taking the role of a cultural observer – chronicling the essence of cities and remote corners through their nuances, rituals, and people. Her work lives at the intersection of art, design, and culture, often shaped by conversations with the photographers who capture these worlds through their lens.