LITERARY CIRCLES

Once the home of the author Alexandre Dumas, this historic abode in Paris has had a style rewrite

- EMMA J PAGE 

Chic but never ostentatious – that is designer Vanessa Faivre’s verdict on her design for this family home in Paris’ Pigalle district. With its tall rounded windows, elegant archways and sweeping curved staircase, it’s easy to see why.

Throughout, its classic architecture has been complemented by understated joinery and natural textures, interspersed with an occasional colour pop or graphic light fitting. ‘I couldn’t be insensitive to the bones of this house,’ she says. ‘Its organic shapes and generous ceiling heights lend a feeling of space and serenity. Our impulse was to reinforce that in a softly contemporary way.’

Once occupied by the novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, the house forms an atypical footprint, culminating in a gentle triangular shape at the front, with a trio of archways at the rear which once gave access to the building’s stables.