L'Hôtel

These petite but perfectly formed 14–15sq =m rooms have charmant views of the Rue des Beaux Arts. Eacch room is individually decorated in opulent fashion. Leopard is named after the print on its carpet and has an African feel. Pagode is Japanese-inspired, with bamboo furnishings and the wall and bed are covered with red damask. Viollet-Le-Duc is named after the 19th-century French architect who restored Notre Dame and takes its inspiration from medieval architecture. All rooms have a king-size bed and an ensuite, and there’s a flatscreen TV, iPod dock, minibar, Green & Spring bath products and free WiFi.

These 18sq m rooms look out over either the courtyard or the cobbled Rue des Beaux Arts, and are all individually and dramatically designed. Barocco is Italian high Baroque; IndoChinese Pondichéry is a miniature imitation of a guestroom in Jacques Garcia’s Château du Champs de Bataille, with a canopy bed and purple and gold hangings. Pompéienne is inspired by ancient Rome and distinguished by a huge sun-shaped mirror above the bed. Les Quatre Eléments gets its name from the four-season murals on its walls. Les Rues de Paris is inspired by old engravings of the city and is hung with Parisian paintings.

L’Hôtel’s three junior suites are 35sq m and overlook the street. Pierre Loti is decoratively inspired by eastern voyages of the eponymous novelist and naval officer; Saint Petersbourg conjures 19th-century Russia, featuring a majestic silk carpet; and Belle Epoque, the hotel’s newest suite certainly lives up to its name.

Marco Polo didn’t die here, but still merits a room (35sq m) in his honour, decorated with antique furniture bought from famed Parisian auction house, Cornette de Saint-Cyr. Mistinguett evokes les années folles (1920s/1930s). Much of the furniture in this room belonged to Mistinguett, the most popular, well paid and risqué female French entertainer of her time. The walls are decorated with galuchat (ray skin) and trompe l’oeil and the room contains art deco ornaments and furniture. Another femme fatale, Mata Hari, lends her name to Chic Room 44, which is covered with rich fabrics, velvet and black lace. Reine Hortense is named after Napoleon’s daughter-in-law, and has a terrace and a small lounge, decorated with drapes and hangings to create a tent-like ceiling.

Named after the hotel’s most famous resident Oscar Wilde (who died here in 1900), this 35sq m suite’s walls are adorned with his – unpaid – bills and a reproduction of an emerald-green phoenix fresco painted in his London dining room. The bow window opens onto a private terrace, and the antique furnishings are from famed Parisian auction house, Cornette de Saint Cyr. There’s a roll-top desk and small seating area in the bedroom and wood panelling throughout. The bathroom has a semi-hidden, green-tiled bath tub and a separate walk-in shower, and the suite has a flatscreen TV, iPod dock, free WiFi, minibar, coffee machine, kettle and a selection of teas, and Green & Spring bath products.

Named after Louis-Antoine, Cardinal of Noailles, L’Hôtel’s grandest suite (40 sq m) has a terrace overlooking the city rooftops and the bell tower of Saint-Germain-des Prés. The cardinal himself peers out from a portrait, and the crimson curtains match his robes.