Faubourg Saint Martin apartment
Located in Paris’s 10th arrondissement, in a Haussmann-style building dating from 1891, the apartment—which has remained untouched for sixty years—features numerous original elements. The project preserves these features while reimagining the layout of the home and the arrangement of its rooms to meet the family’s needs and suit contemporary living.
The kitchen is nestled in the former bathroom, benefiting from natural light streaming in from the east and the gentle curve of the facade wall. A bench, creating a breakfast nook and giving the kitchen its own distinct atmosphere, is situated between a small counter and the custom-made beech wood glass partition. This partition connects the kitchen area and the living room, blurring the boundary of the entryway and integrating it into a visual east-west continuity between the living spaces.
The living room has been redesigned to accommodate an office space, whose privacy is enhanced by furniture that serves as both a bench and storage, with a fluted glass partition above.
The materials used in the apartment are largely mineral-based and sourced locally. The plaster finish applied to the walls pays homage to its centuries-old use in Parisian buildings dating back to the 17th century; it comes from a workshop in the Île-de-France region certified as an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant. The same applies to the supplier of the porcelain stoneware, produced in northern France, which was installed on the floors of the wet rooms. The kitchen countertops are made of terrazzo crafted from reused scallop shells. In contrast, several beech wood elements add warmth to the apartment’s atmosphere.
To ensure thermal and acoustic comfort, the window frames have been replaced with double or triple glazing depending on the orientation, offering beautiful, sun-drenched views: on one side of the interior courtyard, on the other of the former Aux Classes Laborieuses buildings. A department store during the Belle Époque, this building was later acquired by the Lévitan company, the leading French furniture manufacturer of the time. Requisitioned by the German occupiers, the Lévitan store became, starting in 1943, an annex of the Drancy camp. Today it houses offices.
