Hôtel Joyce

Designer at Play

It’s not often that a hotel can be described as both elegant and fun, but the Hôtel Joyce fits the bill, with a contemporary design decor by Paris architect Philippe Maidenberg brimming with playful surprises and delightful details: a sprinkling of tiny fiber optic lights embedded in the lobby’s parquet floor and a sitting area’s carpet; the reception desk paneled with red and white miniature Eiffel Towers; brightly colored furniture in odd shapes; 1950s George Nelson starburst clocks on the wall, telling the time in Paris and on the moon. The long conservatory breakfast room and bar still has the former hotel’s original diamond-patterned mosaic tile floor; one wall is hung with dozens of angled mirrors reflecting everything, while the glass wall looks out onto an interior lane with an “outside” wall covered in faux ivy and a few red roses. Instead of a banquette, the breakfast room has a row of ivory leather Range Rover bucket seats, and a giant cottony white cloud serves as a chandelier.

Each of the 44 rooms is a variation on the same theme, with colorful design furnishings, lamps and accessories. The walls are white, with the one behind each bed covered in white wallpaper printed with black line drawings of a headboard-each a different shape, size and style-bookshelves, decorative columns and moldings, much in the spirit of Piero Fornasetti. Each is also equipped with free Wi-Fi, iPod stations and organic welcome products in the bathroom. Interior rooms overlook the white-walled courtyard space above the breakfast glasshouse, with a row of red and white plant pots with faux greenery attached to the exterior walls like sconces. There’s an elevator, of course, but it’s hard to resist taking the old curving staircase between floors, with its polished wood banister and deep gray-green walls strewn with white stars. As for the circular fire escape stairway, it’s brilliant enamel fire-engine red.

29 rue de la Bruyère, 9th. 01.55.07.00.01. Doubles from €220. Special rates and promotions available on website

Originally published in the May 2010 issue of France Today; updated in October 2012

See our complete hotel guide