La Samaritaine

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Former department store La Samaritaine
Rue de la Monnaie
Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“Paris’s answer to Grace Brothers, a sprawling department store that has stood derelict for 10 years, is finally to be reborn as a riverfront hotel and a luxury supermarket for tourists. After endless legal wrangles. France’s highest administrative court has decided that part of the spectacular site near the Pont Neuf could be reconstructed in an adventurous, modern style. The original La Samaritaine building, an icon of Art Nouveau architecture, will be preserved and turned into an upmarket hotel with a rooftop restaurant. An adjoining building, a later addition and already partly demolished, will be reconstructed as a luxury brand ‘supermarket’ with a wavy glass front that has already been nicknamed by its critics ‘the shower curtain’.” (Court ruling on derelict Parisian Art Nouveau landmark, The Independent)