The Palais Berlitz, also known as Palais de Hanovre, is an office building built in Paris in the 1930s on a block formed by the

Boulevard des Italiens The boulevard des Italiens is a boulevard in Paris. It is one of the 'Grands Boulevards' in Paris, a chain of boulevards built through the former course of the Wall of Charles V and the Louis XIII Wall, which were destroyed by the orders of Loui ...

, the , the and the rue du Hanovre. It was built to replace the Pavillon de Hanovre, which was dismantled and rebuilt in a park in a Paris suburb.

Pavillon de Hanovre

The Pavillon de Hanovre was built between 1758 and 1760 by the French architect

Jean-Michel Chevotet Jean-Michel Chevotet (11 July 1698, Paris – 4 December 1772) was a French architect. He and Pierre Contant d'Ivry were among the most eminent Parisian architects of the day and designed in both the restrained French Rococo manner, known as the ...

(1698–1772) at the request of the

Duke of Richelieu Duke of Richelieu (french: duc de Richelieu) was a title of French nobility. It was created on 26 November 1629 for Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (known as Cardinal Richelieu) who, as a Roman Catholic clergyman, had no issue to pass it down ...

on the rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin (now the

). During construction of the Palais Berlitz, the Pavilion de Hanovre was disassembled and reconstructed in 1932 in the gardens in Sceaux. This work was performed under the direction of the architect

Léon Azéma Léon Azéma (20 January 1888 – 1 March 1978) was a French architect. He is responsible for many public works in France, especially in and around Paris. His most famous work is 1937 Palais de Chaillot, facing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Early ...

, assisted by and .

Palais Berlitz

Under the name of the Palace of Hanover, it was erected as an office building in the 1930s by architect Charles Lemaresquier (1870–1972), who conceived other buildings in the same style, such as the headquarters of

Félix Potin Félix Potin is the name of a French businessman and his eponymous mass-distribution retail business, founded in the mid-nineteenth century. While the business was bought out and then collapsed in the second half of the twentieth century, the b ...

, in partnership with

Victor Laloux Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux (15 November 1850 – 13 July 1937) was a French Beaux-Arts architect and teacher. Life Born in Tours, Laloux studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts ''atelier'' of Louis-Jules André, with his studies i ...

. On the ground floor were stores and a newsreel theatre that seated 200. The building was renamed the Palais Berlitz after the English language school located in the building. In the 1950s the ground floor and basement of the building were converted into a 1,500-seat cinema called the Berlitz, and the old newsreel theatre was turned into a restaurant. It was one of the most important first-run movie theatres in Paris at that time. The design featured a huge curved lobby with stained glass windows leading to the big auditorium which had club armchairs. However, due to two large columns in the auditorium space, the size of the screen was limited. In the 1980s Gaumont took over and divided the Berlitz including the restaurant (the former newsreel house) into six small screens. The place lost its original design. In the 1990s the building was entirely rebuilt with only the facade remaining. In the new building, the new six-screen multiplex run by Gaumont has a new design and a total seating capacity of 1,137. After a fire st the Credit Lyonnais headquarters, the French bank LCL installed its main branch in the building. In 2006, it was acquired by BNP Paribas to house offices of its Communications and Corporate and Investment Banking divisions.

''Le Juif et la France''

Palais Berlitz is notorious for an antisemitic exhibition during

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

: '' Le Juif et la France'' (The Jew and France), which ran from 5 September 1941 to 15 January 1942.

References

{{Portal, France Buildings and structures in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in Paris History of Paris