That, up until this November, I had never hopped on a Eurostar train from London's St. Pancras International to spend a weekend in Paris — or jumped on a plane, for that matter — is only my fault, really. You've read it right: this autumn's visit to the City of Light was my very first one in nearly 27 years, but this was somehow to my advantage.
To say that, having watched all the most iconic, and even bizarre, Paris-based films, from Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 , Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, and Richard Linklater's Before Sunset to the ever-uplifting animated comedy-drama Ratatouille, I had a vague idea of what it would look like is, of course, a euphemism. But the greatest thing of all was that the reviews of the French capital I heard from friends, relatives, and colleagues' reviews, with as many positive as negative ones, canceled each other out, allowing me to form my own opinion about it. That's where Hôtel Dalila, the freshly revamped boutique stay that served as the base of my anticipated Parisian getaway, comes in.
Part of the Livingetc's edit of the best Paris hotels, this bijou accommodation, located a 20-minute walk from Gare du Nord near the vibrant Montmartre, has belonged to the area for a long time. But under the vision of architectural designer Giovanna de Bosredon, founder of Auguri Studio, the seven-floor and 49-room Hôtel Dalila has found a new life.
Hôtel Dalila: A New Beginning
Past its cabaret-style, red-and-white sign — a whimsical teaser of what lies beyond it — a warmly lit room filled with contrasting smooth, as well as textural, surfaces, from emperador-style brown marbles, cool metallic accents, and glossy Artemide Nesso table lamps, to terracotta-hued velvet stools, tiled floors, and decorative ceramics, feels more like the relaxation nook of a cool 1970s apartment than a hotel reception. To de Bosredon, this isn't a coincidence.
"After my first informal meeting with the owner of Hôtel Dalila, it was clear that the stay needed a new story," she tells me. The idea continues the designer, "was to center its restoration around the vibrancy of Les Puces de Saint-Ouen." As the world's largest flea market, this bric-a-brac paradise, situated a 15-minute walk north of the property and appearing in India Mahdavi's guide to Paris, comprises about 2,500 stores among ephemera, second-hand fashion, and high-end design and furniture traders. Visit it on a Sunday, the destination's buzziest day, and you'll have to elbow your way into its intricate lanes of stalls, each brimming with all sorts of wonders.
From this sight, the concept for Hôtel Dalila came into shape. What, at first, was meant to be a quick refresh evolved into a full makeover: informed by the pied-à-terre — an essential living unit, often exclusively used temporarily — and the lushness of the surrounding district, Hôtel Dalila is built around a central, "intimate garden with Parisian flats-inspired bedrooms stacked with souvenirs," de Bosredon explains.
A Vintage-Led Revamp With a Challenge:
Completing the Parisian style décor of the stay, which serves breakfast in its modern bistro café, abounding in playful details like wooden paneled ceilings, Art Deco design curtains, and chequered floors, is a plethora of trailing plants. These adorn its interiors and the little, glasshouse-like inner courtyard, and do so for a reason: "At the beginning, the spark for Hôtel Dalila came from Paris' gardens and squares," says the Auguri Studio founder. Being the 18th arrondissement where most of these can be found, also due to the neighborhood's winemaking history, "we decided to create an indoor-outdoor living space that could incorporate those references," she adds.
The result lets Paris' spirited heritage and vegetation shine through in the finest details. From the acid orange shade borrowed from the legendary façade of Montmartre's Lapin Agile — the city's oldest bar-cabaret, open since 1860 — and the carnage fabrics and green wooden trellis of its outdoor spaces, to the dense hue of Bordeaux chosen as the accommodation's fil rouge in a hint at French wine, Hôtel Dalila couldn't feel more quintessentially Parisian. This is true even, and especially, in relation to its modest spaces. While the accommodation's constrained proportions might not be to the liking of luxury-oriented travelers, they still contribute to reinforcing the Parisian fantasy — at least the one I had in mind.
What past visitors found most daunting about Hôtel Dalila — its pocket-size, 1x1 lift — was, to me, a great part of its fun. Having to squeeze into it while sharing the space with my travel companion captured the happy-go-lucky, reckless feel I have always associated with this city's creative crowd, instantly making me feel like a part of it. "Parisian spaces are small, but that was the challenge," de Bosredon says of the renovation process. The goal was "creating a homey Parisian flat with a contemporary vibe."
Eclectic, cheerful, and blessed with sweeping views of the Sacré Cœur and the rest of the northern Paris' skyline, Hôtel Dalila's retro-fueled rooms are straight out of a Jean-Luc Godard film: only white paint and a couple of frames on the walls, but endless character. At once simple and curious, elegant and eccentric, they rely on a few meticulously crafted elements — be it the sculptural bedside lanterns, the geometrically upholstered bed headboards, the chrome pendant lights, or the fanciful selection of wall art scattered across space — to strike a good impression.
Every statement piece present in them winks at the quirky playfulness of the French capital as a whole, the electrifying atmosphere of the nearby, red neon-lit Pigalle, home to the Moulin Rouge, and the boundary-pushing local artistic scene of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And as I stared out of my hotel room's window, I couldn't help but think: is this what living here feels like?
