The Hôtel de la Païva ("Mansion of La Païva") is a

hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

, a type of large

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

of France, that was built between 1856 and 1866, at 25 Avenue des Champs-Élysées by the

courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

Esther Lachmann, better known as '' La Païva''. She was born in modest circumstances in the Moscow

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

, to Polish parents. By successive marriages, she became a soi-disant Portuguese marchioness and a Prussian countess, this last marriage supplying the funds for the ''hôtel'', at which she gave fabulous feasts. Since 1904, the house has been used by the Travellers Club of Paris, a

gentlemen's club A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century. Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the ...

that was all-male until the 2000s.

History

La Païva had already acquired a luxurious mansion at 28 Place Saint-Georges in Paris but dreamt of building another on the Champs-Élysées, which she thought was the most beautiful avenue in the world. According to legend, in her youth, she had been pushed out of a cab by a hurried customer and slightly injured. She promised herself to build herself a house on the avenue where she fell. After her marriage to Albino Francisco de Araújo de Paiva, the self-styled Portuguese marquis de la Païva, she had the funds to do so. Once the ''hôtel'' was built, she received many notable people there, including the Goncourt brothers,

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, ...

, Ernest Renan, and

Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitione ...

. In 1877, suspected of espionage, La Païva and her husband, Prussian multimillionaire Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, whom she had married in 1871, left France and withdrew to Silesia, where she died in 1884. The double entrance to the courtyard of the ''hôtel'' has been preserved: one door was for the entry of cabs and the second for their exit, avoiding the need to turn around. The courtyard has been replaced by commercial establishments: first a financial exchange office, and later a restaurant.

Building and its furnishings

La Païva commissioned architect Pierre Manguin to build the ''hôtel'' in

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

style. He worked with the sculptors Léon Cugnot, Eugène Delaplanche, Eugène Legrain, Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, and Jules Dalou. There is a Ceiling by Paul Baudry. During construction of the ''hôtel'', Augustin Scholl said to those who asked about the progress of the work, "The construction is well underway: just ask the sidewalk." The ''hôtel'' is especially famous for its beautiful yellow onyx staircase, probably unique in the world. The stairs inspired the contemporary witticism by the playwright François Ponsard, adapted from '' Phèdre'', ''"Ainsi que la vertu, le vice a ses degrés"'', meaning "Like virtue, vice has its degrees". ''Degrés'' means both steps in a staircase and levels of a hierarchy.

Bath

The Napoleon III-style bathtub was sculpted by Donnadieu from a block of yellow onyx (1.85 m - 900 kg). This material, called onyx-marble, was found in a Roman quarry and rediscovered in 1849 near Oran (Algeria) by Delmonte. This type of onyx was used at the time of Napoleon III for the decoration of only the most prestigious buildings. At the Universal Exhibition of 1867, Donnadieu received a distinction for "onyx marbles designed with the elegance which is the supreme attribute of Parisian workers" (from "Algeria to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, 1867" O . McCarthy). La Paîva is said to have taken baths of milk, lime-blossom, and even champagne. Another tub in silver was equipped with three taps, the third being used for milk or champagne.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel De La Paiva Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris History of Paris Païva Houses completed in 1865