Hotel 34B in Paris: honoring French elegance

In the 16th century, the Bergère street only had one tiny path and three homes surrounded by vegetable gardens. The renovation work to create the hotel 34B was done on these three original buildings of which the past remains a mystery.

Traces of ancient engravings have appeared on a large rock, between the lobby and bar, and on a stone column of the main room. Despite all of the deciphering attempts, it was impossible to reconstitute these writings that, in some areas, resemble numbers.

As a reminder of this History, the rock between the lobby and bar was named 1515, in honor of François 1st and the Marignan battle, and the boulder of the main room now bears the engraving: 1789.

The cellar of the building also required lots of renovation work: clean-up, changing the spaces, taking down walls…

The destruction of a wall that hindered free movement in that space revealed the existence of an ancient well, a testimony of a time when water was accessible only through fountains and wells, long before Eugène Belgrand, under the auspices of Baron Haussmann, built a network of water in Paris that is still running today.

The renovation work of the cellar also led to the accidental discovery of a passageway, now closed, but full of mystery!

A fence was set up at the entrance of this passageway and invites visitors to look into the secrets that Paris holds...

The 34B is a 3 star hotel of 128 rooms. They are luminous with contemporary design, all in blue and white, reminding the color of the sky, with a few touches of red that, naturally, allude to the French flag, just like the interior tricolor façade of the hotel.

But the most surprising blue-white-red spot is the hallways that are entirely covered in horizontal and vertical tricolor lines, evoking an almost cartoonish aspect of this usually neutral space, giving off a deliciously hilarious flair.

Yet it is far from kitsch, creativity reigns in these hallways, bordering an optical illusion and starring as the amusing background of a multitude of entertaining photos posted on the hotel’s instagram account.

“The hotel is full of details that reveal themselves slowly to the eyes of the curious traveler while sharing a bit of French history, explains Philippe Maidenberg, architect of the hotel 34B. We never wanted to make this a nationalist hotel.

It was a coincidence that it opened right before the terrorist attacks in Paris, and it is true that today the omnipresence of blue-white-red gives it an entirely new dimension. But, in reality, I worked on a concept of allusions and self-mockery. We are far from the image of the snobby French that foreigners tend to peg us with.”

The warm and friendly reception echoes the French theme, with a large library of books dedicated to France, vintage objects that remind both of the Frenchy culture and its art of living. In this way, one can find a model of the Concorde, Parisian cobblestone, and a bottle of famous wine!

The eye of the visitor travels, attracted to all of the small details that are numerous allusions the image that he can have of France. The dozens of miniature cyclists suspended upside down from the ceiling of the bar remind of the Tour de France with a funny twist.

Every day, from 2pm to 2am, the hotel’s clients can enjoy an open bar of non-alcoholic drinks, with cookies, candies, and salted snacks, in the hotel’s lounge. Tourists rejoices over this pleasant energy-boost after returning exhausted from a long day of sightseeing in the capital.

The group Astotel, of which the hotel 34B belongs, was born in 1971 from the association of three bothers, Georges, Serge and Jean-Pierre Cachan, who wanted to ensure the continuity and development of the hotel company founded by their father with the hotel Astra, rue Caumartin in Paris.

Today, Astotel operates sixteen, three and four star, hotels (1,000 rooms) in Paris, all located at the center of the capital. The group’s strategy relies on regular renovation of its hotel park, in order to constantly maintain and improve the quality of services.

Other than service, Astotel pays particular attention to the design and decoration, in order to satisfy the expectation of its clients looking for upscale quality and new experiences. Some facilities of Astotel have become references on the market of Parisian boutique hotels, such as the 123 Sébastopol, 123 Elysées, hotel Bradford Elysées, hotel Joyce, hotel Palm and hotel George Opéra...

Hôtel 34B Astotel
34 rue Bergère 75009 Paris
Phone: +33 1 47 70 34 34
www.astotel.com/34B

Rates: from 160 to 450 euros
Breakfast: 14 euros

Hotel 34B à Paris : l’élégance à la française à l’honneur