La Samaritaine Department Store

UPDATE: La Samaritaine finally reopened on June 23, 2021 (five years late) as a complex of several buildings comprising a 7-floor department store, a Cheval Blanc boutique hotel and numerous restaurants. Open daily 10:00a to 8:00p. 

9 Rue de la Monnaie, 75001; METRO: Pont-Neuf; photo above shows the statue of King Henri IV along the building's river front (see history of La Samaritaine below).

Department store web site in English: https://www.dfs.com/en/samaritaine

Cheval Blanc hotel web site: https://www.chevalblanc.com/en/maison/paris/

 

 

Photo: the spectacular Art Nouveau staircase, not seen since the store closing in 2005.

Original post published on October 22, 2014: Moët-Hennessy Louis-Vuitton has unveiled plans to convert the La Samaritaine department store in Paris into a luxury hotel, to open in 2016. The landmark Art Nouveau listed building complex overlooking the Seine at Pont Neuf has been lying dormant since it was closed for safety reasons in 2005.

Moët-Hennessy Louis-Vuitton is also planning to convert Samaritaine’s second building on the Rue de Rivoli into resident apartments and a shopping complex for luxury goods.
As the conversion plans await approval by Paris’ town hall, France’s CFE-CGC trade union, whose members had hopes of seeing La Samaritaine restored to its former glory as a department store, expressed despair that such a store is not included in the plans proposed by Moët-Hennessy Louis-Vuitton. After much political grappling, the mixed-use project now includes a department store, the first Cheval Blanc hotel in Paris (designed by architect Edouard François) as well as LVMH’s first DFS duty-free emporium in Europe, a full-sized Louis Vuitton retail store, office space, 96 residential apartments, a day care for children and a restaurant.

History of the complex of buildings:

1603 - To draw water from the Seine river to supply the nearby Louvre quarter, King Henri IV commissioned engineer Jean Lintlaër to construct a pump house at the second arch of the Pont-Neuf bridge. Completed in 1607, the structure was decorated with a statue of “La Samaritaine”, the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in the biblical gospel of St. John. Restored several times, and rebuilt in 1772, the pump house and its statue were dismantled in 1813, to be replaced by a floating public swimming pool complex. 

1870-1890 - Ernest Cognacq opened a shop at Rue du Pont-Neuf, and called it La Samaritaine. The shop’s revenues topped one million francs by 1875. Ernest Cognacq married Marie-Louise Jaÿ, previously the lead female sales assistant in the dressmaking section of the department store Le Bon Marché, where she was the first-ever female salesperson in the clothing department. 

1890-1910 - Ernest Cognacq gradually acquired property in the northern section of a block bordered by Rue de la Monnaie, Rue Baillet, Rue de l’Arbre-Sec and Rue des Prêtres-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, and converted the existing buildings into retail space. On the southern side of the block, he commissioned architect Frantz Jourdain to design and construct a building with a riveted steel frame supporting a huge glass roof, decorated in the Art Nouveau style. The northern and southern sections were unified via steel and glass facades adorned with polychrome glazed lava stone panels. The department store's retail innovations included clearly marked fixed prices and allowing customers to select their own clothes and try them on before purchasing.

1917 - Frantz Jourdain was commissioned to build a luxury store for La Samaritaine on boulevard des Capucines. The building also housed Ernest Cognacq’s collections of eighteenth-century art, donated to the City of Paris on his death, and displayed at the Cognacq-Jaÿ Museum today. 

1926-1928 - Architect Henri Sauvage supervised the construction of the tiered Art Deco building on the banks of the Seine. Ernest Cognacq died in 1928, before the new project was completed. By 1925, the store’s sales had passed the one-billion-franc mark, employing a staff of 8,000. Those were La Samaritaine’s glory days: as well as offering the very latest trends in men and women’s fashions, drapery, interior decoration, travel goods, flowers and plants, books, musical instruments and more, the store then featured pastry and confectionery counters, a renowned wine cellar, and a “regions of France” department that allowed customers to taste the very best products from across the country. Parisians enjoyed the grand parades and festivals sponsored by the store throughout the year. 

2005 - La Samaritaine closed for "safety reasons", after the Paris Préfecture de Police found that the building did not meet required standards. This explanation was (and is to this day) disputed, because by the 1990s the stores were no longer profitable, resulting in major stock sales to LVMH.

2010 - LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) luxury brand conglomerate acquired 100% interest in La Samaritaine. They made plans to reopen as a luxury hotel by 2015.

2021 - After many delays and revisions in concept, the complex reopened on June 23, its 151st anniversary. The store now houses 6 restaurants, a spa, beauty shops, private shopping assistants and guided tours. A third building is entirely enclosed by a striking modern undulating glass facade designed by Japanese architects SANAA. For those guests with very deep pockets (the 45-sq-meter/485-sq-ft smallest rooms are priced from $2,000 per night inclusive of taxes, breakfast and soft drinks), the Cheval Blanc hotel even features a top floor 10,700-sq-ft 7-bedroom apartment (not a typo) with two reception rooms, dining room, a movie-projection room, multiple terraces, private parking and a swimming pool. Not to mention views of the Seine. the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame. Maximum 16 guests. The apartment is so expensive that the rates are unpublished. Prospects must contact the hotel directly. Your blogger is not bothering to list the phone number.

Photo: The department store complex lies on the right bank at the northern terminus of the Pont-Neuf bridge.