A plan by a Qatari prince to bring modern comforts to his 17th-century palace in Paris was attacked in court yesterday by critics determined to stop it.
Eminent academics and architects, well-heeled neighbours and even an elderly film star who lived in the riverside mansion for two decades have risen up against the project, alleging it will cause irreversible damage to a listed national monument.
Under scrutiny are moves to dig a car park beneath the paved courtyard of the building, called Hôtel Lambert, and to install lifts and new bathrooms in the gilded living quarters.
“It’s as if you had a magnificent horsedrawn carriage and you wanted to convert it into a standardised limousine,” Jean-François Cabestan, an architecture professor, said before a legal hearing on whether to ban the works.
Mr Cabestan belongs to an association for the protection of historic Paris which has gone to the courts to try to reverse official approval for the renovation project. Work is scheduled to start in November.
Set at the tip of the Île Saint Louis, an island in the Seine, the mansion has a distinctive facade with a semicircular gallery, and was once home to the Rothschild banking dynasty. The brother of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar, acquired it in 2007 for €60 million to €80 million, say French media. The Île Saint Louis is a stomping ground for artists and intellectuals, and the arrival of a Gulf millionaire sparked rumours of flashy cars and marble bathrooms.
Residents’ worst fears seemed confirmed when plans emerged for a bathroom directly above a room with a painted ceiling by Charles Le Brun, the artist who also painted the spectacular Galerie des Glaces at the palace of Versailles. Critics were aghast a leak might damage the priceless work and, after an initial protest, the bathroom was scrapped.
The lift plan was also modified to spare a particularly fine ceiling and the proposed car park reduced in size, leading the ministry of culture to approve the revised plans in June.
But this did not deter opponents from dragging the issue to the courts. There were passionate arguments on points as detailed as the location of the prince’s proposed new toilets and why he needed so many parking spaces.
Thierry Tomasi, a lawyer representing the prince, said work was urgently needed to save the building from decay. “The landlord is a great lover of art, particularly French art and architecture. His intention has always been to carry out an exemplary restoration project,” he told the court.
Among those lining up to oppose the prince is a former resident of the Hôtel Lambert – film actor Michèle Morgan, a legend in France since her love scene with Jean Gabin in the 1938 masterpiece Quai des Brumes.
The case continues in September.