La Samaritaine: 6 Interesting Things I Love About this Building

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First, I fell in love with La Samaritaine the first time I shopped there. (and……I can’t wait to share my photos of the newly renovated building !) La Samaritaine of this époque occupied 4 buildings. Although on a much grander scale, at the time it reminded me of a department store from my childhood. I shopped there with my mother and grandmother and it was très elegant to my young eyes with its three floors and a mezzanine!

courtesy Texas History portal

Our first visit to Paris

On our first visit to Paris we shopped at La Samaritaine. It was a creaky labyrinth of rooms and floors. Little did we know that summer of 2005 that by the end of the year it would be closed. I don’t have any personal photos from inside but I do still have the yellow wallet I purchased.

La Samaritaine 2022

The Plan to Renovate

Second, in the words of poet Robert Burns, « the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry ». The plan was to renovate the department store with a reopening date for 8 years later, 2013. The date came and went and finally in June of 2021, 16 years later, it reopened. Gone is the store I remember and in its place is something magnificent !

Let’s begin at ground level:

Walking in, the tiers of staircases and what awaited the top just beneath the glass ceiling were stunning! Follow me up the staircases as we climb to the top floor.

I stopped for this spectacular view of the staircases and their balustrades in Art Nouveau.

Nearing the top, you can see the goal – beautiful art nouveau tile-work.

Art Deco v. Art Nouveau – what do you love best

Third, listed as an historic monument, the original building has been renovated and the Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture have been restored. This may be my favorite point.

We took a break at the café on this upper level to just enjoy the view.

And then, we began the decent. The view down was also amazing and that white curved grid you see is the lighting for the basement level.

You can’t miss viewing this wonderful Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The façade on rue de la Monnaie is Art-Nouveau and proudly proclaims that La Samaritaine has been a part of Paris since 1869.

This historic monument sports a beautiful façade that has been restored and preserved. Art Nouveau is my favorite style of architecture and there is plenty of it to explore all over Paris.

The original building is still part of the design and that spectacular glass roof, verrière, has been restored. The restored Art Nouveau murals nestle beneath the glass roof. Amazing!  (Maybe the verrière should be the fourth point but I love the Art Nouveau murals so much more !)

Fourth, but wait – don’t miss the Art Deco façade on the Seine side of the building.

Art Deco façade

Fifth, this is no longer just a department store ! The building, which covers more than 70,000 square meters, now includes not only a large luxury department store but also a luxury hotel, restaurants, offices, a crèche and social housing.

Sixth, a 25-meter high rippled glass façade runs along rue de Rivoli and rue de la Monnaie, connecting the original building with its modern counterpart. Talk about ultra- modern ! What a contrast this is to the « old La Samaritaine ».

Don’t forget to look around the La Samaritaine complex

As you marvel at this rippled façade, don’t forget to turn around (as I did) and look at this additional building which is also part of the Samaritaine group of buildings. Thanks to creative commons, I have a photo to remember it by.

Getting there

Mon histoire de La Samaritaine (en bref) en français…

La première fois que j’ai visité La Samaritaine, c’était presque un coup de foudre. Il occupait 4 immeubles et me souvenait du grand magasin de mon enfance où j’ai fait des courses avec ma maman et ma mamie.

Notre premier séjour à Paris en 2005 était ma première visite à La Samaritaine et ma dernière (parce qu’elle a été fermée la fin de 2005) jusqu’à cette visite en avril. Seize années après notre première visite, le grand immeuble était finalement rouvert.

Quelle merveille ! Tout est restauré et le grand plafond en verrière illumine la magnificence. Les niveaux superposés d’escaliers avec leurs balastrades en style Art Nouveau vous mènent vers le plus haut étage où il y a des fresques en style Art Nouveau des paons et des léopards.

Remarquerez que je ne mentionne pas du contenu du magasin. Bien sûr, il est rempli de bonnes choses mais le style architectural est ma priorité.

N’oubliez pas l’extérieur de l’immeuble ! La côté donnant sur la Seine est en style Art Déco. Par contre, si vous avez lu mes autres articles, vous savez que l’Art Nouveau est ma vraie passion.

Ainsi, j’adore la côté dominant la rue de la Monnaie, une rue piétonne, qui porte les fresques aussi bien que l’intérieur dans le style Art Nouveau. Le bâtiment dominant la rue de Rivoli a un extérieur en verre ondulé qui reflète les bâtiments autour de lui. C’est un contraste ultra-moderne à l’édifice Art Nouveau voisin.

Finalement, on doit remarquer que La Samaritaine n’est plus seulement un grand magasin. Il y a des restaurants, un hôtel, des bureaux, une crèche et un logement social.

If you enjoyed this article, please share! You can also follow the historical timeline of La Samaritaine in this post.