Banke Hotel, Paris

As befits its name, former function and setting in Paris’s historic banking district near the Opéra Garnier, the recently opened Banke Hotel has all the grandeur and opulence that financial institutions used to have before small branch offices (not known for their attractive design – or any design at all, for that matter) began to mushroom in big cities. The round two-story lobby of Le Banke is something to behold, with its magnificent glass cupola, gold-trimmed black and red arches, and handsome mosaic floor. The hotel’s decorator, owner Jordi Clos, didn’t have to think twice about preserving all that. He has sparsely furnished the lobby with amusing pieces – “diamond”-studded black armchairs, curvy red sofas and one spectacular, enormous gold Chesterfield sofa – that are witty and up to date without distracting from the magnificence of the space. The Gilded Age theme is picked up again behind the bank’s former counters, in the bar, with its gold furnishings, and in the restaurant, where diners can rest their posteriors on gold banquettes or burnt-wood chairs by Dutch designer Maarten Baas.

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