A Parisian Luxury Hotel Years in the Making Finally Opens Its Doors
Finding the ideal location to break ground on a new hotel in Paris takes time and patience. Just ask the group behind J.K. Place Paris, who took five years to develop a boutique hotel that opened in early November between Boulevard St.-Germain and the Seine, in the 7th arrondissement—a few yards away from the Orsay Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Impressionist and Postimpressionist pieces by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh.
For Italian hotelier group J.K. Place, which has never opened a hotel in France before, the perfect spot turned out to be the former European Consulate on Rue de Lille, a spot that directly overlooks the Seine. J.K. Place Paris, as the hotel is simply called, offers 30 rooms—each one different from the next—designed by acclaimed architect and interior designer Michele Bönan. Prices for rooms start at nearly $886 and top off at around $1,167 for a master suite.
“With J.K. Place Paris just a few steps away from the beautiful Musée d’Orsay and in the iconic Rive Gauche, the location is ideal for travelers looking for the best Paris has to offer,” explains Ricardo Ortogni, general manager for J.K. Place Paris.
J.K. Place properties, including boutique hotels in Florence, Rome, and Capri, all hew closely to a similar philosophy, marrying the comforts of home with high-end accoutrements and lavish details. Tasteful decor paired with bespoke furniture, objets d’art, and antique gems make guests feel at once cozy but also appreciative of their sumptuous abode.
“The homey but upscale atmosphere of every J.K. Place room makes you feel like you’re in a beautiful, private house of your own,” contends Ortogni.
Indeed, Bönan has spent over three decades honing his design philosophy, translating a 19th-century aesthetic into a refined style that still feels extremely relevant today. His work can be found at J.K. Place’s locations in Capri, Rome, and Florence, as well as at the Ferragamo family–owned Lungarno Collection of hotels in Florence and Rome, which also showcase Bönan’s neoclassical style.
For J.K. Place Paris, Bönan focused on filling the hotel’s rooms with bespoke Italian furniture and antiques sourced from famous Paris flea markets such as the Marché aux Puces de St.-Ouen. (Mid-century Hermès desk lamps and smoky mirrored consoles, for example, can be found throughout the rooms.) Meanwhile, each spacious bathroom sports mother-of-pearl inlay cabinets, an oversize chrome shower, a sitting area with low-slung metal armchairs, and stacks of coffee-table books.
J.K. Place Paris also features an indoor pool, a Sisley Spa, and the restaurant Casa Tua. The eatery—which has outposts in Miami and Aspen and focuses on Northern Italian fare—serves entrées such as seared beef tenderloin with foie gras, toasted hazelnut, and leeks; honey-glazed duck breast with caramelized Belgian endive in cherry sauce; and poached Maine lobster with haricots verts, tomatoes, and orange accents.
According to the J.K. Place hotel group, Casa Tua’s goal isn’t to compete with every Michelin-starred establishment in every five-star Parisian hotel already out there—that would perhaps be a Sisyphean task—but rather to offer hotel guests a savory alternative to the hundreds, if not thousands, of notable restaurants and cafés that already line Paris’s streets and alleys once those guests step outside their hotel.
Because as any traveler who’s ever ventured to Paris knows, that is when the true adventure begins.
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