DFirst of all, there is this ornate facade that we discover at the end of rue du Cardinal-Mercier, in the heart of the New Athens district in 9e borough. Here a richly carved oak wood door, there balconies decorated with vases, sphinxes and winged women, and here and there bas-reliefs, plant motifs, fluted columns, and above all an immense decorated glass roof like a stained glass window. Suffice to say a most eclectic style which easily lets you imagine what is hidden inside.
But before going any further, let's return to the origins and especially to the woman to whom we owe this private mansion built in 1883. If its name is hardly familiar to us today, unless we are into lyrical singing , Anna Judic (1849-1911) was one of the essential figures of operetta during the Belle Époque, and in particular of the Théâtre des Variétés, taking on roles written by Jacques Offenbach then embodying those imagined by her husband, the playwright Albert Millaud, also founder of the Little Journal.
For nearly twenty years, the singer will occupy the front of the stage and triumph between operettas, vaudevilles and opera buffas, such as La Roussotte, Lili, Daddy's Wife et Mam'zelle Nitouche whose resounding success will bring him, it is said, the tidy sum of one million francs. Enough to launch the construction of her private mansion which she entrusted to Jacques Drevet, an orientalist architect attached to the viceroy of Egypt, who designed the docks of Alexandria in this capacity.
She then designed her interior in “a dizzying mix of Renaissance architecture, neo-Gothic à la Louis II of Bavaria and the 17the baroque century”, details a publication from the Society of History and Archeology, Old Montmartrededicated to Otto Klaus Preis, about whom we will have the opportunity to speak again a little later.
Cathedral living room and carved wooden fireplace
The visitor is thus welcomed into a hall almost eight meters high, bathed in light thanks to the monumental stained glass window reproducing The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatrafamous fresco by Giambattista Tiepolo. Added to this is a gigantic Gothic fireplace in carved wood, a throne surmounted by a crowned dome, a painted ceiling by Georges Clairin depicting Anna Judic in her main roles, and a spiral staircase leading to a loggia from which one can imagine the singer singing a song during her numerous receptions where everyone was flocking Social Directory.
So many elements which have been preserved despite the sale of the hotel by the actress, in 1891, following financial difficulties, the division of the property into several lots after the Second World War and the succession of different owners.
Among them, the famous Otto Klaus Preis, mentioned a little above. In the 1970s, this eminent stylist from Nina Ricci, passionate about art, fell under the spell of the apartment, now offered for sale, concentrating in every way the original spirit of the place. “Throughout his life, he would never stop restoring and perfecting this astonishing setting, through the acquisition of furniture in accordance with […] the extravagance of this decor”, further relates the publication Old Montmartre.
-It is he who will have the property and its facade registered as historical monuments. He again who, thanks to musical evenings, will restore to the house the social life that it had lost since the departure of Anna Judic. And this, until his death in 2003 which allowed a couple of antique dealers, also passionate about art, to become owners and to perpetuate its unique atmosphere for more than twenty years.
Anna Judic's apartment today has five rooms, including two bedrooms and a cathedral living room, spread over 154 square meters. All offered for sale by John Taylor for 5.2 million euros.
The detail that makes the difference
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
Without doubt, according to Geoffrey Benoit, co-executive director of John Taylor in Paris, “the typology of good which arouses the interest of people who have an attraction to heritage and who wish to feel an emotion, or even live an aesthetic experience”.
