La Samaritaine overhaul

LVMH’s plans for the iconic French department store La Samaritaine, which closed for security reasons back in 2005, are firming up. In 2013-2014 a new shopping centre, office complex, social housing, a creche and an 80-room luxury hotel the ‘Cheval Blanc’ will open its doors on the site, designed by the Pritzker prize-winning Japanese architects  Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (Sanaa). The hotel will occupy the emblematic, 1920s, Seine-side site.

view from the Rue de Rivoli
entrance