Built by The Bon Marché.
The Lutetia was built in 1910 by the family behind The Bon Marche (remember that department store?). They needed somewhere nice for their customers and suppliers to stay.
So they built a hotel across the street.
Then came 1940.
When Germany occupied Paris, The Lutetia became the HQ of Abwehr, Nazi Germany’s military intelligence service.
A hotel becomes a homecoming.
After Paris was liberated in 1944, the Lutetia became a reception center for people returning from Nazi concentration camps.
20,000
returning deportees passed through the Lutetia in 1945.
900
volunteers lined the hotel walls with names and photos of missing people, in hopes of reuniting families.
17,000 hours of renovation work im 2014 uncovered the original 1910 frescoes, on display at the hotel’s Bar Josephine today.
Francis Ford Coppola (the director of The Godfather) designed the rooftop suite. It includes rare film props from The Godfather.
Each piece of furniture is custom made for the hotel, with different variations of marble used for the guest bathrooms and spa.
In 2025, The Mandarin Oriental took over management of The Lutetia, giving a 115-year old Paris institution its latest chapter.
