Hôtel de la Païva
The Hôtel de la Païva is a grand mansion on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, built for Esther Lachmann, known as La Païva. Pierre Manguin designed it in Italian Renaissance style. Using funds from her marriage to Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, La Païva commissioned this residence as a statement of wealth. Yellow onyx defines its famous staircase. A Moorish bathroom contains a bathtub carved from one block of yellow onyx, alongside a winter garden. Erotic sculptures and paintings enrich the interiors. Léon Cugnot and Eugène Delaplanche contributed work, connecting the mansion’s decoration with nineteenth-century French sculpture. La Païva hosted the Goncourt brothers and Théophile Gautier. The residence also reflects her social ascent, from modest beginnings in Moscow to a Prussian countess’s Parisian home. The Travellers Club of Paris has occupied the mansion since 1904. Guided tours open the building’s interiors to the public, revealing its onyx, sculpture, paintings, and winter garden.
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