A 56-room 5-star inside Émile Wolff's 1889 private mansion just off the Champs-Élysées — opened as a hotel in 1925, Marlene Dietrich's Paris home for over 25 years, with the courtyard garden the Avenue does not have.
"Marlene Dietrich kept room 411 here for 25 years and the property has not let you forget it. The Champs-Élysées address that pretends not to be on the Champs-Élysées — gravelled courtyard, plane tree, the Avenue ninety seconds away when you want it."
The Hôtel Lancaster occupies the building constructed in 1889 by the Spanish industrialist Émile Wolff at 7 rue de Berri, a side street running south from the Champs-Élysées toward Place Saint-Philippe-du-Roule in the 8th arrondissement. The Wolff mansion was a private residence until 1925, when Wolff's widow and the Savoy Group of London converted the building into a 60-room luxury hotel and named it the Lancaster after the Savoy's London sister property. The Lancaster opened to the public in March 1925 and immediately drew the inter-war Paris crossover crowd — film actors and actresses on European tours, transatlantic American writers, the original Hollywood-in-Paris circuit. The property has held five-star status continuously since classification was introduced in France.
The hotel's defining historical association is with Marlene Dietrich, who took rooms at the Lancaster between 1949 and 1975 — twenty-six years in residence — and used the property as her principal Paris address throughout her European film career. Dietrich's room 411 (now the Marlene Dietrich Suite) is preserved with a number of original furnishings, photographs and effects from her Paris years. The Wolff family ownership ended in the early 1990s; the hotel was acquired by the Stein family (Hôtels Concorde) in 1995, who carried out a major restoration in 1996-1998 with interiors by the British designer Christian Liaigre — at the time his largest hotel commission in Europe. A subsequent renovation in 2010-2012 was led by the Italian designer Florence Ardouin (now Florence Lopez), who layered curated antiques onto the Liaigre framework.
The 56 rooms (including 11 suites) are arranged across the historic floors of the original mansion, with the upper floors adding garrets and the courtyard wing housing two of the larger suites. Standard rooms are smaller than the contemporary five-star Paris average (around 24-30 sqm) — a recognition of the constraints of the historic envelope — but the trade is for the period detailing preserved in every room. Suites range from the Junior Suite (40 sqm) to the Marlene Dietrich Suite, the Mansart Suite (top floor with a private terrace overlooking the courtyard, the largest in the property), and the Penthouse Suite. The hotel maintains its mid-20th-century art collection, including original works by Boris Pastoukhoff that Dietrich commissioned during her residence and gave to the hotel on departure.
Restaurant Marie — the hotel restaurant — is named for Marie Wolff, the original owner's daughter, and runs French cooking under chef Julien Roucheteau. The dining room opens onto the gravelled courtyard garden in summer and into the conservatory wing in winter. The Bar du Lancaster handles cocktails and afternoon tea; the Salon Garcia is the historic library-and-fireplace sitting room. The Spa & Wellness Centre on the lower-ground level is small (three treatment rooms, a single massage suite and a fitness room) but uses Sothys products and offers in-room treatments as the principal programme. The Lancaster has the smallest staff-to-room ratio of any Paris five-star — 110 staff for 56 rooms, double the contemporary average — and the resulting service consistency is the property's quietly held competitive advantage.
A Paris anniversary at the Lancaster is the choice for couples returning to Paris, who would rather book a small hotel with bloodline than another Place Vendôme palace. The Marlene Dietrich Suite for the milestone year — Dietrich's actual rooms with her own commissioned art on the walls. Restaurant Marie handles dinner; the courtyard garden runs the breakfast in summer. The Champs-Élysées is one minute away when you want it.
Honeymooners on a second Paris trip — the first having been a Place Vendôme palace booking — find the Lancaster the considered alternative. The Mansart Suite with its private courtyard terrace; the Restaurant Marie tasting menu; the Bar du Lancaster in the evening. The Spa Sothys runs an in-room couples-treatment programme. The hotel does not advertise its honeymoon programme; the discretion is the proposition.
For Paris business stays where the brief is "Champs-Élysées office, dinner-table privacy, the suite-to-meeting-room ratio matters," the Lancaster is the unusual answer — large enough to host meetings, small enough that the staff knows who you are by the second day. Restaurant Marie handles the working lunch; the Salon Garcia handles the late-afternoon meeting. Eight minutes' walk to LVMH headquarters, six to the principal banking towers on Avenue Kléber.
7 rue de Berri
75008 Paris
France
George V metro 3 min walk; Champs-Élysées 90 sec; Arc de Triomphe 6 min walk; Place de la Concorde 15 min walk
56 rooms (incl. 11 suites)
Classic Rooms from €580/night
Junior Suites from €1,100/night
Marlene Dietrich Suite from €2,800/night
Penthouse Suite from €4,500/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Built 1889; opened as hotel March 1925; Christian Liaigre interiors 1996-1998; Stein family ownership since 1995
Restaurant Marie (French)
Bar du Lancaster (cocktails)
Private courtyard garden
Marlene Dietrich Suite
Boris Pastoukhoff art collection
2:1 staff-to-room ratio
From €580/night. The Marlene Dietrich Suite books five months ahead and the Penthouse and Mansart Suites three months ahead for spring weekends and Paris Fashion Week. Restaurant Marie reservations open 60 days in advance.
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