Pont-Levis, swimming pool … We visited a secret house at 18 million euros in Paris: “One side James Bond”

You have to make a big projection effort to imagine an old disused garage instead of the 100 m² patio and its swimming pool, around which elegantly wraps a succession of refined and light parts. It was however the previous function of this luxurious haven located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the result of the work of the architect Guillaume Cochin. At the turn of the 2000s, he transformed the metal shell into a Contemporary town houseunsuspected from the very classic facades on rue Vaneau where it is nestled. And this is not the only surprise that this amazing remains for exceptional services, currently put on sale at the cost of 17.8 million euros.

Fur and Pont-Levis fridge

Upon entry, the visitor accesses the ground floor by a dot-leaf. If it is by car, it is enough for him to press a button to raise the footbridge, and reveal, in the basement, a spacious four-seater garage, equipped moreover with a hub to avoid outings in reverse.

“It’s thee side James Bond of the house, ”comments, by activating the system, Ludovic Brabant, director of exceptional goods at Varenne, luxury real estate agency in charge of the sale. The basement, moreover, hides other surprises: gym, sauna, safe … as well as a cold room, installed by a former owner to store its furs.

A spectacular patio

But let’s go back to the ground floor quickly, where the green patio attracts all eyes. It is visible from almost everywhere, in this 750 m house²whose three levels of bay windows open onto the blue band of the swimming pool.

In this 100 m exterior²it’s absolute calm. Barely we hear the discreet lapping of the water, where a cleaning robot is activated. The swimming pool – for technical reasons, it is only 75 cm deep – awaits the next dive. Behind a vegetable wall covered with jasmine, birds of birds escape from the canopy of the gardens of Matignon. A neighbor who says a lot about the prestige of the address, and the incongruity of finding a contemporary architecture, dominated by glass and metal.

“We forget that we are in Paris. You might think you are in Asiawith the Zen side of this house. Today, with the saving plan of the 7th arrondissement and the current urban planning rules, this type of property could no longer see the light of day, ”contextualizes Ludovic Brabant.

“We created on a skeleton”

At the time already, it was necessary Battle with Matignon and the City of Paris To achieve his ends, remembers the architect Guillaume Cochin, known in particular for having imagined the French Embassy in Hanoi.

When he acquired the plot at the turn of the 2000s, the city is “very chilly”, he says. “The patio bored them. They fought non-stop me during the work! He laughed. “The condition was to rely on the existing. So, we made a real house on the basis of a reinforced concrete carcass. We created everything on a skeleton ”. The metal reinforcements are preserved, as are the thick concrete slabs which serve as a foundation and are kept on the upper floors. In eight months, the house was built.

A clientele of young successful entrepreneurs

The 170 m² living room, open to the swimming pool, is completed in the floors by two spacious and refined suites, three bedrooms and a desk suspended in the heights. The house revolves around two bodies of buildings connected by a passageway along the patio. “Living here is fullness. Everything is very open, the eye is freeyou don’t feel locked up. It’s a wonder, ”says his architect, who lived there for four years before selling it. The house then knew several owners, including a sulphurous collector who, in delicacy with taxes, was seized the good.

Today, she is again on sale. Several customers have already shown their interest, says the Varenne agency. The property particularly seduces families and profiles sensitive to art, the house offering many free walls to hang paintings. “We have a lot of young people who have done fortune in tech or cryptocurrency, And also a few foreigners, including Americans, ”says Ludovic Brabant. The Pont-Levis may well regain service soon.

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