Sitting on my upper-floor verandah at the Hotel Norman Paris gazing down on cobbled streets, it’s hard to believe I’m just a minute’s walk from the ever-busy Champs-Élysées.
It’s soooo quiet.
Formerly the Vigne Hotel, the building in the 8th arrondissement ten minutes from the Arc de Triomphe was purchased by hospitality entrepreneur Olivier Bertrand, renovated for a year and opened last September. It’s named after Norman Ives, a mid-20th-century painter and graphic designer who became a major player in American modernism.
Located on the corner of Rue Balzac and Rue de Châteaubriand, the 37-room, 5-star boutique hotel stands out architecturally, crowned as it is by a large dome with a creamy stone facade and flower boxes on each floor.
Curved-glass windows and metal railings at its corner indicate where junior suites with balconies are located.
Beyond the revolving entrance door and the velvet curtain embracing it, I step straight into a cozy lounge featuring wood and leather furnishings and eclectic artworks unearthed, I’m informed later, in antique shops nationwide, all emblematic of the era in which Ives flourished.
Here, courtesy of French architect Thomas Vidalenc, are vintage sofas in green, blue and tan, parquet floors, thick rugs with geometric patterns, ’50s furniture, low wooden tables and American paintings of the ‘70s. A shelf is lined with vintage brass tea caddies, marble candle-holders, mini-busts and ornamental vases. There’s even a fireplace. A bar with a speckled grey and black counter bordered by potted wild banana plants, stone pillars and intricately carved wooden stools line one side of the room.
It’s certainly a cozy place to relax.
In contrast, the reception desk almost seems like an afterthought, tucked away as it is discreetly in a little side room.
My room, 305, a corner suite, featured a terrace with olive plants in pots, two chairs and a coffee table. Inside, a gleaming lacquered rosewood headboard is balanced by soft natural wool curtains.
Furnishings include a leather lounge chair in the middle of the room, a checkered sofa, a glass-topped coffee table, a stand-alone TV and an oak bureau with a built-in mini-bar. Abstract paintings adorn the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows permit an abundance of natural light. Interestingly, a kettle offers multi-temperature settings for tea-making. My bathroom features a bathtub with shower and a mosaic-tile floor and a marble sink on a vanity of rosewood, glass and steel.
Dining is in the hotel’s ground-floor restaurant with a mirrored ceiling from which hang lines of balloon-like lamps. Classic in style with square wooden tables ribbed with metal, its mood is enhanced by a sofa with vibrant, multicolored cushions and abstract paintings on the walls. Seating is either on wood and leather chairs or banquette-style. A shelf displays a range of wooden sculptures and glass artifacts.
Guests can also enjoy alfresco meals, in an inner courtyard with a paved stone floor, wall heaters and decorative wood panels on the walls.
Breakfast is continental buffet with some cooked dishes such as eggs Benedict, mixed-grills and avocado on toast and due to the influence of Chef Thiou (nee Apiradee Thirakomen) you can also start your day with Thai tea and crêpes in condensed milk. While I didn’t eat dinner there, the restaurant offers a selection of Thai dishes. As added relaxation, the hotel also has a sauna and dipping pool, gym and two treatment rooms in an underground spa.
Interestingly, Bertrand, the owner, seems to have been in a restless purchasing mood over the last few years, having recently taken over two other hotels in the same neighborhood, namely the Château des Fleurs, and Hotel Balzac just down the street from Hotel Norman.
Together with his sisters, he also owns the renowned Parisian hotels, Saint James Paris and Relais Christine, as well as the high-end tea rooms, Maison Angelina.
If you require an upscale hotel in a central Parisian location with easy access to shopping outlets, museums and art galleries, Hotel Norman may well be the place for you.
