Paris (AFP)
The legendary Poste du Louvre, in the heart of Paris, will become an exceptional site combining luxury hotels, shops, social housing ..., Tuesday revealed the prime contractors of this work concerning one of the jewels of the heritage of the post office.
Closed since 2015, the former post office hotel, comprising 32,000 m2 of floor space and the largest mail distribution center in France, was known to Parisians to be open 7 days a week, at night, which has long enabled to the giddy and late to send mail with "the postmark being taken".
This stone and iron building, recognizable by its peristyle facing the street, was built in 1886 by the architect Julien Guadet.
It has metal naves which make it one of the masterpieces of industrial architecture of the Third Republic.
From 2021, it will become "a concentrate of mixed city", says architect Dominique Perrault, in charge of this gigantic project presented to journalists on Tuesday, after having been chosen after a European architecture competition in 2012 .
Daycare center, 5-star hotel with 82 rooms or suites, shops yet to be defined, police station, coworking spaces, brasserie, panoramic bar with a 360 ° rooftop terrace and a post office ... will do part of this vast complex, located near another building undergoing major transformation: the former Bourse de Commerce. Renovated, it will house from spring 2021 part of the contemporary art collection of French billionaire François Pinault.
The La Poste group and its subsidiary Poste Immo are the owners of the building modernization project, managed by Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France.
© 2020 AFP