The Irish Embassy in Paris has undergone a major restoration. Deirdre McQuillan takes a tour.
The Irish Embassy in Paris is housed in beautiful building that is said to be one of the best of its kind in France. At the junction of the fashionable Avenue Foch and Rue Rude - named after the sculptor of the Arc de Triomphe - the house was built in the 1890s as a private mansion for the eighth marquis of Breteuil, a military man of distinction from one of France's leading aristocratic families. Henri-Charles came from a line of diplomats, soldiers and ministers, was a personal friend of King Edward VII of England and had close ties to the Russian imperial family. There was an Irish connection, too: in 1720 his ancestor Claude-Charles de Breteuil married Lady Laura O'Brien de Clare, who was from an Irish Jacobite family.
In 1954, after considerable negotiation and in the face of far more powerful bidders, the house and its contents were purchased by the Irish government for £150,000 - in today's terms about €4.5 million. This year, for the first time since its acquisition, the house has been going through a major restoration, under the supervision of the Ambassador, Anne Anderson, and Patrick Mellett, an award-winning Paris-based Irish architect. It now looks much as it must have done when the marquis and his young American wife, Marcellite Garner, a cotton heiress whose fortune enabled its construction, went to live there, more than 100 years ago.
A recent Enterprise Ireland gala fashion show at the Embassy was the perfect occasion to display its restored splendour for the first time. The commanding, classically tiled black-and-white hallway, with a sweeping curved staircase up to the grand salons, seems designed for grand entrances and lavish receptions. The salons, sumptuous in gold and white and notable for their ornate wooden panelling and allegorical paintings, feature an outstanding singerie, or monkey room, a feature that was fashionable in the 18th century. The great windows give wonderful views down the tree-lined Avenue Foch. Log fires add warmth. Today, from the crystal chandeliers to the gilded door handles, everything sparkles with freshness. It even smells new. The effect is breathtaking.
At times up to 100 craftsworkers have been working at the building, many of them from Versailles and the Élysée Palace; eight gilders, 16 stonemasons, three woodcraft companies and numerous specialists in parquet, stucco, ironmongery, period moulding and paint restoration have brought their expertise to the project. "We wanted the building to show its age beautifully," says Anderson.
The de Breteuils entertained some of the most famous people of the time, including the writer Marcel Proust and an l8-year-old Edward VIII, who as the prince of Wales spent a number of months there as a guest of the family in 1912. His living quarters were on the ground floor, where Anderson's offices are now located.
After the marquis died, in 1916, the house was sold to the Saint family, which in turn sold it, in 1937, to the princess of Faucigny- Lucinge, a beautiful Hungarian-born socialite. One of her many bold gestures in the house was to install an outstanding art-deco bathroom, by the leading designer Rateau, in rare Italian marble, gold mosaics and African hardwood. A woman given to extravagance, she even lined the service lift with panther skin.
The story of how the Hotel de Breteuil, as the building was known, was purchased by the Irish government is a tale in itself. Con Cremin, Ireland's first ambassador to France, was coming to the end of his assignment; he learned through the close friendship between his wife, Patricia, and the princess that the house was for sale. "My mother and the princess got on famously, went to fashion shows together," says Ann Cremin, his daughter. "There were other countries with a lot more money in pursuit of the house, but the princess insisted that la petite Mme Cremin was to live in her house."
Back in Ireland it was not quite understood that a hotel particulier was, in France, a private town house rather than a hotel, so there was initially a lot of resistance. But, as Ann recalls, her mother was adamant. In an extraordinary sequence of events, the purchase was finally authorised in December 1953, by Frank Aiken, the minister for external affairs, who was standing in as minister for finance while Seán MacEntee was abroad. Aiken was acting on the advice of a letter of recommendation sent by the minister for external affairs - in other words, himself. "And then all hell broke loose," says Ann. "The government practically fell as a result, but of course it was the best bargain they ever got."
Anderson says the sale was negotiated down to the tiniest details, such as the rods on the secondary staircase. "Cremin was determined to drive a bargain. It was a big and courageous decision to buy it at the time, and it was pride in the country that drove the ambition. It was a strategic move that Ireland needed to make in France, a signal that we wanted to be taken seriously, and we wanted a building to reflect that. You read the correspondence with a great sense of pride in the diplomatic service of the time."
The de Breteuils' architect was Ernest Sanson, who was well known for his classical constructions; he modelled the exterior of a famous l8th-century building, the Hanover Pavilion (now in the Parc des Sceaux, in Paris). The gilded panelling of the grand salon, diningroom and library, on the first floor, was rescued from a magnificent early-18th-century house that had been demolished. (Panelling from the same house also went to Waddesdon Manor, a Rothschild family home in Britain.) A bedroom came from the chateau of the princess of Chimay, at Issy, and the singerie from the former Hotel d'Aubeterre, in Paris, said to be from a dowry a princess brought with her to what had become a convent.
For Anderson, who was Ireland's first female permanent representative to the EU, in Brussels, the project has special meaning. "You can delve endlessly into the history of the house, and the more you delve the more special it becomes," she says. But it has a greater significance, too. "There is behind all this a very clear- sighted view of the role of France in Europe and the importance of building on French-Irish relationships. We wanted to make a statement in 1953, and it is that same wish to make a statement now that led to the readiness to invest in this major refurbishment."
So far it has cost €1 million; the work is ongoing. For Patrick Mellett, the house has now been brought back to the point of being one of the most important pieces of foreign property owned by the State. "It sends a signal that it is possible to salute past architectural history while embracing an exciting new future. It has breathed new life into the soul of an old structure."
• The Irish Embassy is at 4 Rue Rude, in the 16th arrondissement; the nearest metro station is Charles de Gaulle Étoile