Hôtel Mezzara : Take the money and run

All the versions of this article: English , français

In our first article on Hector Guimard’s Hotel Mezzara (ill. 1 to 8), written in April 2020, Bénédicte Bonnet Saint-Georges wrote: "It is to be believed that heritage is considered a burden and that all pretexts are good for not spending a penny on it".
The reality is much worse: not only does the French state not want to spend a penny on the conservation of this heritage, but it wants to make as much money as possible. Nothing else would explain why the first call for applications was unsuccessful. He thus demonstrates that he has learned nothing from the lessons of the Hôtel de la Marine or the Château de Grignon, which he wanted to sell to the highest bidders, who were at the same time the lowest bidders in terms of heritage, only to back down in the face of the reactions of heritage defenders. This is, hopefully, what will happen with the Mezzara Hotel [1].


1. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Street façade of the hôtel Mezzara
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page
2. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Garden facade of the hôtel Mezzara
Photo: Didier Rykner
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We refer to this article for information on the history and architecture of the monument. At the time of publication, the call for applications had not been launched. It has since been launched and, despite a project submitted by the Cercle Guimard and a sponsor who provided all the required guarantees, was declared unsuccessful without the reasons for this decision being made public or even explained to the candidates. And for good reason: all the conditions were met.
The first was: "guarantees to be given to respect the conservation and safeguarding measures of the movable and immovable property". The project consisted of having the building restored in strict compliance with its character as a historic monument by the ACMH (architecte en chef des monuments historiques), Pierre-Antoine Gatier, and transforming it into a Guimard museum managed by the Cercle Guimard, benefiting from numerous long-terme loans from private and public collections, and accompanied by a scientific committee including Christophe Leribault, then director of the Musée du Petit Palais and now president of the Musée d’Orsay.
The second was: "The financial soundness of the offer is part of this guarantee, in the long term". The patron, Fabien Choné, who is accompanying the Cercle Guimard in this project, proposed to pay for the restoration entirely at his own expense, i.e. four million euros, without asking the State for a single euro. If the project did not ultimately prove viable, the hotel would be returned to the State, fully restored.


3. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Staircase of the hôtel Mezzara
Photo : Didier Rykner
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The only risk - a small one given the soundness of the project - was therefore that the State would eventually get back a fully restored monument, whereas today it has a building requiring four million euros of work. This was the figure at the time of the first call for tenders. Today, as the cost of building materials has soared, the figure would be much higher...


4. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Top of the staircase of the hôtel Mezzara
Photo: Didier Rykner
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So why did they refuse this offer? No explanation, as we have said, was given. And now the State is launching a new call for bids (deadline for receipt of bids on 13 June 2023), with different criteria: it is no longer a 50-year emphyteutic lease, but an 80-year lease, and the candidate must propose a fee payable in one go for these 80 years. This is no longer a real lease, but a sale similar to what the English call a ’leasehold’, a transfer valid for almost a century. This does not commit the current Ministry of Finance, which can boast of not selling the property while benefiting from almost the same advantages, and claiming (this is the official term) to "value" the monument.


5. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Glass roof of the hôtel Mezzara (top view)
Photo: Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

6. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Wash room in the hôtel Mezzara
Photo: Didier Rykner
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It can be seen, then, that this project would create a museum in Paris dedicated to Art Nouveau, joining other European cities such as Belgium with the Musée Horta in Brussels, or the Casa Museu Gaudí in Barcelona (and in France Nancy, with the Musée de l’École de Nancy). It would also offer the public the opportunity to visit the only Guimard residence in public hands and enhance the tourist interest of the 16th arrondissement, as there are many other Guimard buildings in the vicinity of the Hotel Mezzara. This project would cost the State nothing, as everything would be paid for by the private sector, and in particular by a particularly generous patron, who in the long run proposes to help furnish the building with the collections he is so persistent in assembling: he recently acquired the furniture from Paul Mezzara’s bedroom (ill. 9 and 10), by Léon Jallot, at an auction in Brest, in order to install it in the hotel, in his former room. This bed with Paul Mezzara’s laces was exhibited at the 1910 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, and a photo was published in the magazine "Arts et Industrie" (ill. 11). It should also be noted that the same Léon Jallot was the author, under Guimard’s direction, of the ceramic frieze of the Salon. Guimard surrounded himself with various talents, including Charlotte Chauchet-Guilleré, who painted the mural in the dining room, above Guimard’s furniture, which is classified in situ. Fabien Choné also has a work by this artist in his collection, which he would exhibit here if the museum project were to succeed...


7. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Salon of the hôtel Mezzara
Photo : Didier Rykner
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8. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Dining room of the hôtel Mezzara with the listed furniture in situ and the mural painting by Charlotte Chauchet-Guilleré
Photo: Didier Rykner
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But this one, then, is not suitable. We won’t know why. And if this scandal is due to the Ministry of Finance - which did not answer our questions - the Ministry of Culture is just as responsible, at least through its inaction. Not only does it say very little on the subject and has never committed itself in writing to support the project, but this is what it replied to us:


9. Léon Jallot (1874-1967)
Two chairs et bonheur du jour from Paul Mezzara’s bedroom exhibited at the 1910 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs
Fabien Choné Collection
Photo : Adjug’art Brest-Quimper
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10. Léon Jallot (1874-1967)
Element of Paul Mezzara’s bed exhibited at the 1910 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs
Fabien Choné Collection
Photo : Adjug’art Brest-Quimper
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"You asked for details on the future of the Mezzara Hotel, a listed building owned by the State. You mention the valuation procedure launched in March 2021 by the Direction de l’immobilier de l’Etat (DIE) and regret that the proposal put forward by the Cercle Guimard was not retained.
In response, I would like to inform you that the State has indeed set itself the objective of entrusting the restoration, management and maintenance of the hotel over a long period of time through an administrative long lease (BEAV), while respecting its remarkable architectural and movable character.
However, the first consultation launched by the DIE did not allow for the selection of a bid that would meet both the ambition to enhance this heritage property and its protected objects, and the expectations of the State owner in terms of economic development in particular.
This is why the procedure was declared unsuccessful by the DIE in July 2021.
In order to find a tenant and validate a project that respects this protected property, the DIE wished to relaunch a new call for applications, the specifications of which, drawn up in conjunction with the services of the Ministry of Culture, have been revised to give more space to heritage objectives and allow a payback period more in line with the investments to be envisaged.
This call for projects for a long lease was published on Thursday 6 April by the local service of the Paris domains on the State’s real estate sales website (https://cessions.immobilier-etat.gouv.fr) and was relayed in the specialised press and the major media
"


Photo of Paul Mezzara’s bed showing the laces that his house
his house published in the magazine "Arts et Industrie"
(which misspells Léon Jallot’s name)
See the image in its page

So let’s summarise: the Ministry of Culture confirms everything we have written. It reaffirms against all evidence that the State’s first objective is to promote: "over a long period, the restoration, management and maintenance of the hotel while respecting its remarkable architectural and furniture character." The Cercle Guimard’s offer met this requirement. As for the second, it was a question of "meeting the expectations of the State in terms of economic development in particular". The "in particular" is tasty. It is obvious that this "economic development" is the only one that really interests him. Not having to pay for the restoration of this monument, nor for its transformation into a Guimard museum is not enough, it has to make money! It could not be any clearer what the real objective of the Ministry of Finance is and the objective complicity of the Ministry of Culture, which pretends to ignore it.


12. Excerpt from the trailer of Clive Donner’s What’s new Pussycat.
partly shot in Hector Guimard’s Castel Henriette
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In the long run, however, the intention of the patron (accompanied by others) and of the Cercle Guimard, is indeed to perpetuate the installation of this museum, accompanied by a documentation centre on Guimard and Art Nouveau, in the Hôtel Mezzara, by transforming the whole thing into a foundation and even proposing to the State that it receive a royalty according to the results of its operation. But what the State wanted was money right away. Guimard doesn’t care about that. One is reminded of the Woody Allen film, What’s new Pussycat (ill. 12), which took place in the Castel Henriette, Guimard’s masterpiece that was savagely destroyed a few years later. With this affair, the Ministry of Culture (which is also the Ministry of Cinema) pays a new tribute to the New York filmmaker with another of his films: Take the money and run...

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