< Previous00 AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 8804/10/2022 10:31:25 PM89 Above: The handsome rear facade of the house is punctuated by topiary in Le Jardin de Marc planters. Opposite page: An ar work by Chris Succo hangs in the sit ing room. The Firefly chandelier is by Langlois-Meurinne for Pouenat. The cof ee table and sofa are also his designs, while the lamps are from Por a Romana. Previous page: A view into the entry hall. The plaster light is by the ar ist Cemre Demirci and the wall ar is by Jack Goldstein. AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 8904/10/2022 10:31:33 PM90 Above: A view of the sit ing room. The ar work on the right is by Gregor Hildebrand and the photos on the lef of African masks are by Thierry Fontaine. Opposite page: The entry hall has a chequered floor in Burgundy stone and nero marquina marble. The glass sculpture is by Tony Cragg and the alcove behind it is painted in Marron Bavière from Chromatic. Red is a colour which the French interior designer Damien Langlois-Meurinne associates with grand buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. “It was used quite a lot back then,” he says. “You’d have red wall hangings, curtains, marble.” One of the most celebrated examples is the Grand Trianon, which Louis XIV commissioned for Versailles in the 1680s, and is made largely from red Languedoc marble from the southwest of France. In this mansion in Paris’s genteel 16th arrondissement, which belongs to a cosmopolitan French couple with a young family, Langlois-Meurinne decided to integrate red in a diff erent way: he painted the ceiling and alcoves in the entrance hall a deep crimson tone. “It was particularly appropriate,” he explains, “because the space is very much the heart of the house.” Rather than adding a traditional touch, it feels more like a strikingly modern gesture. Since founding his own practice in 2003, Langlois- Meurinne has become a master at artfully bridging the classical and contemporary, aided by a deep knowledge of French architectural history, initially nurtured by child- hood visits to his grandparents’ country property in the Dordogne region, which had some 30 or 40 diff erent rooms. This mansion may not have quite so many, but it nevertheless stretches over some 600 square metres and four fl oors, with six bedrooms. It also has an interesting history. Designed during the fi rst decade of the 20th century by the architect Henri Grandpierre, who worked largely between Paris and Buenos Aires, it sports an exquisitely proportioned neo-classical façade. Later, in the Fifties, it was acquired by an American diplomat called Somerville Pinkney Tuck, who served as a chargé d’aff aires to France’s Vichy govern- ment during World War II and was appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt as the United States’ fi rst ambassador to Egypt. After this death, his wife sold the property in 1968 to the CEO of the supermarket chain, Monoprix. When Langlois-Meurinne fi rst set eyes upon it, little work had been done to it in the preceding 50 years. The ornate wall panelling on the ground fl oor looked decidedly sad, there was an industrial-style kitchen on the lower ground level with prosaic white wall tiles, and one of the bedrooms was still decorated with faded fl oral wallpaper - on the walls and the ceiling. Still, the architectural splen- dour imagined by Grandpierre was largely intact. “For me, it’s quite remarkable,” enthuses Langlois-Meurinne, “fi rstly for its nobility and also for the quality of its details, whether it be the plasterwork, panelling or mouldings.” On the ground level, he carried out very few modifi ca- tions, but the others were largely reconfi gured. On the lower ground fl oor, a more convivial kitchen was installed, along with staff quarters, a hammam and a gym. The top level, meanwhile, is centred around a family room that leads out onto a terrace. Langlois-Meurinne’s only signifi - cant architectural invention was to extend the grand sweeping stone staircase up to the top of the house (it had previously stopped at the fi rst fl oor) and a light well direct- ly above it. “Working in such a grandiose setting engenders a need to have furniture pieces that are somewhat extrav- agant and to have more dynamic moments,” he says. By way of example, he points to the highly lacquered cobalt blue dining table, which he custom-designed for the proj- ect. There are other strong touches of colour elsewhere and, as in many of his interiors, he gave diff erent rooms a quite distinct chromatic identity. The sitting room is large- ly dominated by gold tones, while the kitchen units are a sharp forest-like green. Yet more visual drama is created by the concentric black and white fl oor motif in the entry hall, as well as a number of striking artworks including a large tree drawing by Christian Lapie above the master bed, and a series of pho- tos of African masks by Thierry Fontaine in the sitting room, whose eyes have been fi lled with half-used candles, endowing them with wax tears. For Langlois-Meurinne, the idea of living in a Parisian town mansion is something of the ultimate dream. “It’s their volumes that I fi nd partic- ularly exceptional,” he says. “At the time, there was such a generosity to the spaces that were created.” And when they come with their own garden, it’s even better. “In this one, you can’t hear a sound from the street,” he adds. “It’s like you’re transported to another world.” dl-m.fr AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9004/10/2022 10:31:45 PM’’The house is remarkable for its nobility and the quality of its details’’ AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9104/10/2022 10:31:57 PM00 AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9204/10/2022 10:32:07 PMLeft: A crescent- shaped sofa in the family room looks out to the roof terrace. A plaster and brushed brass chandelier hangs above a ceramic table by Agnès Debizet. 93 AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9304/10/2022 10:32:17 PM94 Above: In the principal bathroom, a painting by Raúl Illarramendi hangs above a Bet e tub. The side table is from Eichhol z. Opposite page: A lacquered wood Forget Me Not dining table by Langlois-Meurinne is flanked by vintage chairs by Ico Parisi. The ceramic sculpture in the centre is by Agnès Debizet. The ar work on the wall is an oil pastel on wood by Antoine Aguilar. AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9404/10/2022 10:32:29 PMAD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9504/10/2022 10:32:40 PM00 A view into the kitchen which has vibrant green lacquered cabinets. Opposite page: The principal bedroom has a custom lacquer and brass headboard and Convergence lights by Langlois- Meurinne. The ink and charcoal drawing is by Christian Lapie. AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9604/10/2022 10:32:49 PM’’Such a grandiose setting needs furniture that is somewhat extravagant’’ 97 AD_047_86-97_Arena_Paris_12609162.indd 9704/10/2022 10:33:00 PMNext >