Historic yet of the Moment: Haussmannian Apartment in Paris by Hauvette & Madani.

A renovation usually ends better than it begins, although Samantha Hauvette and Luca Madani of Paris-based architecture and interior design studio Hauvette & Madani would probably beg to differ. Their latest project—an apartment near Avenue Montaigne—isn’t just a renovation; it’s a renovation of a renovation that turns back the clock on its predecessor to restore and reveal what came before it: a place of true Haussmanian heritage.

By the time Samantha and Lucas came on board, that heritage was as good as gone. Gone was the original Haussmann-era stucco, gone were the cornices and wood mouldings, gone was the spirit. What existed instead were blank marble surfaces and shiny gold embellishments. To the owner, an art collector, it was savagery. “She said to us, ‘We’re going to tear this all out and start from scratch. It’s a shame, but that’s how it is!’” the pair recounts.

But undoing the past wasn’t as simple as Samantha and Lucas had anticipated. Because many of the original hallmarks had been erased, bringing them back meant creating them from scratch. Not that Samantha and Lucas minded. Having a blank slate gave them free rein over everything: from the layout and furnishings to the walls and floors and fireplace, the last of which they had clad in magical blue ceramic tiles crafted by New York-based artist Sarah Crowner. What wasn’t Haussmannian was made to look like it was, including the walls which the pair left blank to create room for the client’s colourful personality and equally colourful art collection.

A Coffee-coloured Haussmannian Apartment in Paris by Hauvette & Madani.

The soon-to-be clients were friends of friends, which meant somewhat familiar ground the firm when it came to designing the...

Where they couldn’t rewind time, they didn’t. Exhibit A: the straw marquetry double door between the living room and kitchen, which they added to stand in for heavy wood doors. They used the straw marquetry as a theme, enlivening it in the small, circular entrance, in the sofas and coffee table in the living room, again across the dining table, and ultimately on a headboard in the bedroom. They used the hypnotic grain to set the stage for the artworks, letting it cede the spotlight here and there, while serving as a characterful backdrop.

Speaking of artworks, the home boasts an eclectic selection. A Kerstin Bratsch work graces the primary bathroom, while a Franz West sculpture enhances the dining room a short way away. Likewise, a mint-hued ceiling installation by Erwin Wurm gives the living room a quirky spin, holding a mirror to the similarly toned Josh Smith painting on the wall. Kaleidoscopic the arrangement may be, but Samantha is quick to point out that no work here has a fixed place: “The collection is truly immense and constantly changing. Pictures are constantly being rotated.”

Art Attack: A Haussmannian Apartment in Paris by Rodolphe Parente.

This Haussmannian apartment on Paris’ Canal Saint Martin flows like sunlight, Rodolphe reoriented the layout to create new passages...

The kitchen isn’t just a kitchen; it’s a lounge, bar and dining space, depending on the time of day. A Vladimir Kagan sofa serves as a welcome retreat for coffee and conversation, while a vanilla cream table by Hervé Van der Straeten, situated in the centre, provides a nifty spot for a croissant or two. But the bubblegum pink, dollhouse-like realm, small and sweet as it is, belies the effort it took to enliven it. Samantha and Lucas cite the example of the sewer pipe that cut the kitchen in half. Because it couldn’t be relocated, it had to be concealed.

Which meant that the pair would have to use a sleight of hand to hide it in plain sight. Their magic touch proved successful, with the addition of a Doric column with a capital that funnels into the ceiling in a joyful burst of floral stucco moulding. (You’d never know there was a sewer pipe underneath.) For the owner, who is a close friend of Samantha’s, the apartment finally feels like home. It’s where she hosts small, intimate gatherings, meets designers and artists within her circle, and has friends over for tea. It’s historic yet of the moment; it’s all she hoped for and more.

Gemstone-inspired Tones & Forms: Haussmannian Apartment in Paris by Uchronia.

In a Haussmannian building in Paris’s famous Golden Triangle is an apartment that dazzles like a jewel box. And not just figuratively...

[Images courtesy of Hauvette & Madani. Photography by Francois Coquerel.]