Eucalyptus Calm at the Elysée Montmartre Hotel

A Portuguese studio bringing such quiet calm to a hotel between lively Pigalle and Montmartre may sound like an unlikely combination, but it works beautifully. On Boulevard de Rochechouart, the 16-room Elysée Montmartre Hôtel has been reimagined by architecture and design studio Policrónica.

The interior is shaped almost entirely by eucalyptus, a fast-growing tree widely used in Portugal for paper production. Policrónica sourced it directly from small forest owners and gave it a far more lasting role here, using the wood for panelling, furniture, lighting and fittings throughout the hotel.

I love the honeyed colour of the wood, but it is the details that really make the place: arched windows, sculpted ceilings and pieces of furniture that seem to have their own expressions. They belong together without becoming identical, a little like a very well-behaved group of schoolchildren.

Almost everything was designed and made in Policrónica’s own workshop. Keeping the process together allowed the studio to use more of each tree, reduce repeated transport and develop new ways of working with a difficult material. Its solar vacuum dryers reduce the eucalyptus drying time from around 18 months to just six days.

For all that careful thinking, the rooms do not feel like an environmental demonstration. Warm wood, brass, plant fibres and neutral fabrics create a simple, restful interior, with a touch of the wabi-sabi appreciation for natural materials and quiet imperfection.

It may not be the most traditionally Parisian hotel interior, but perhaps that is part of its charm. Step in from the lively streets of Montmartre and the whole place seems to exhale.

Originally found at The Spaces. Photography by Julien Labrousse.