Hôtel
Particulier
Montmartre

The location

The house sits in the 18th arrondissement, on Avenue Junot on the Montmartre hillside, between Rue Lepic and the hill of the Sacré-Coeur. You reach it through the Passage de la Sorcière, a cobbled alley at the end of which a gate, and behind it a garden, opens. The Sacré-Coeur is ten minutes’ walk away, the Moulin Rouge the same.  The façade is a white Directoire-style townhouse, with tall windows and stucco. From the street you see none of it. The garden hides the house, the house hides itself.

Backstory

The house, built in 1871, belonged first to the Hermès family, then to the Rothschilds; in 2007 the Comtet family bought it and made it a guesthouse. Today it is run by the son, Oscar Comtet, a trained landscape gardener who previously worked in fashion and film. He began in 2015 with a bar, mixing cocktails from forgotten flowers; its success won him the whole house. Comtet calls himself neither hotelier nor restaurateur but someone who builds stories; the house is deliberately unclassified. He often tends the garden himself. The five suites he renovated in 2022 with his long-time friend, the interior designer Pierre Lacroix, who had already done the bar and restaurant. His aim: a real family residence of timeless style, almost outside of time.

Interior & architecture

The building is a white Directoire townhouse with high ceilings, stucco mouldings and marble fireplaces, spread over two floors. Comtet and Pierre Lacroix conceived the five suites as cabinets of curiosities, each with its own staging, furnished with finds from the flea market.

The first suite plays on an Asian boudoir, with a camellia-patterned carpet and a folding screen as a headboard; the second is all crimson, in red velvet; another is dressed in leopard print and mirrors. Over the years, artists also designed individual rooms, such as the sculptor Philippe Mayaux with a vitrine full of glass objects. On the ground floor Comtet joined small rooms into one bright salon, Lynch inspired, with pink velvet furniture. The restaurant lies under a glass roof with Garden-of-Eden wallpaper.

A look inside

The house holds only five suites, between thirty-five and eighty-five square metres, spread over several floors. Plus a restaurant, the salon, a library and, below, the bar Le Très Particulier.

The largest suite, Les Folies du Ciel, measures eighty-five square metres, lies under the eaves with a view over the rooftops of Paris, has redpainted beams, a hanging swing and a scarlet bathroom with a freestanding tub. Four deluxe suites are named for their worlds, lined with forest wallpaper.

Danse Pacifique, Grand Tralala, Lazy Leopardesse, Jardin sur le Nil, and Les Folies du Ciel. In the suites, velvet, antiques, Japanese silk walls. The beds are generous, some bathrooms set open into the room. Each suite is different, none feels like a hotel room, more the guest room of an eccentric friend.

Culinary

The in-house restaurant, Le Grand Salon, cooks a French, seasonal cuisine and is open from morning to night, from breakfast through British tea time to Sunday brunch. The head chef is Gabriel Maknavicius. In 2024 the house earned the title of Maître Restaurateur, which honours home cooking from well-sourced produce.

Small regional growers supply the kitchen, the bread comes from a bakery next door, the sommelier chooses the wines. Current signatures such as the Chateaubriand and the “Sôle meunière”, mashed potatoes, nut-brown butter with capers

One floor down lies the cocktail bar Le Très Particulier, hidden in the green, a place for the initiated, with drinks from flowers and herbs. In summer you drink outside under fairy lights, among the trees of the garden. The bar, opened in 2015, counts as one of the loveliest Paris addresses for cocktails and draws an evening crowd that values the house’s discretion.

Wellness & Relaxation

There is no spa in the classic sense; the house itself and its garden are the relaxation. The listed garden of 900 square metres, designed by the landscape architect Louis Bénech, who also shaped the Jardin des Tuileries, is the largest hotel garden in the capital, a paradise of old trees, shaded corners and a trickling fountain, where only birdsong and the click of boules from the club next door break the quiet. On request, a massage or hairdressing comes to the room. You lie in the green, take a drink from the terrace, and forget that Paris rages outside. The noise of the city stays beyond the wall.

Surrounding area

At the door lies the authentic Montmartre, off the postcard trails. Instead of the crowded Place du Tertre, the walk to the Musée de Montmartre on Rue Cortot is worth it, where Renoir and Suzanne Valadon had their studios and the oldest vineyard in Paris still grows down the slope. Just around the corner stands the Bateau-Lavoir, where Picasso, Braque and Modigliani worked and cubism was born. Dalida too lived on the Butte; her square and grave lie a few steps away. For the surreal there is the Espace Dalí, for the offbeat the Halle Saint-Pierre, a gallery of art brut. Jardin Junot is a garden next to the hotel with areas for playing pétanque, a traditional French game with a strong Montmartre spirit.

For odd souvenirs, head north to the flea market of Saint-Ouen, one of the largest in the world. In the lanes around Avenue Junot, at the Château des Brouillards and the Allée des Brouillards, lives the quiet Montmartre, once home to Renoir and Gérard de Nerval. The Maison Rose and the Lapin Agile, the old artists’ cabaret, still stand. For food, the wine bar La Buvette, the Bouillon Pigalle for classics, and the chocolate of Alain Ducasse.

Activities

For art lovers. The Musée de Montmartre with the Jardins Renoir, the Bateau-Lavoir as the cradle of cubism, the Espace Dalí and the art brut of the Halle Saint-Pierre.

For walkers. The quiet lanes around Avenue Junot, the Château des Brouillards, the Vignes du Clos Montmartre and the climb to the Sacré-Coeur in the evening light, when the city fills with lights.

For night owls. The in-house bar Le Très Particulier with original cocktail creations developed by the mixology bartender, served in an intimate atmosphere perfect for a special date or an evening with friends. On some evenings, a jazz duo performs live music, creating a more acoustic atmosphere. The Moulin Rouge ten minutes away, plus the jazz cellars and cabarets of the Butte such as the Lapin Agile.

For the appetite. The house restaurant, the wine bar La Buvette on Rue Saint-Maur, the Bouillon Pigalle for French classics, the chocolate manufactory of Alain Ducasse.

For flâneurs on a budget. The flea market of Saint-Ouen to the north, one of the largest in the world, plus the boutiques and concept stores around Rue des Abbesses and Rue Lepic.

For romantics. Breakfast in the garden under old trees, a drink on the terrace by fairy lights, an evening in your own cabinet-of-curiosities suite above the rooftops.

For families. The wide, safe garden, the carousels at the foot of the hill, the little vineyard and the funicular up to the Sacré-Coeur.

For culture travellers. A concert in the Art Nouveau church of Saint-Jean de Montmartre, the Montmartre cemetery with the graves of Truffaut and Stendhal, the old studios of the Butte.

For explorers. The hidden Passage de la Sorcière, the witch legend of the house, and the remnants of the Commune wall among the trees of the garden.

Details

• Five suites from 35 to 85 m², over several floors; the largest: Les Folies du Cie (85 m²), plus the deluxe suites.
• Restaurant Le Grand Salon (head chef Gabriel Maknavicius, Maître Restaurateur), cocktail bar Le Très Particulier.
• Listed 900 m² garden by Louis Bénech, the largest hotel garden in Paris.
• No spa; massage and hairdressing to the room on request.
• Breakfast for a fee, tea time, Sunday brunch.
• Located on Avenue Junot in the 18th arrondissement, ten minutes from the Sacré-Coeur; baby cot on request.