Can You Guess What This Swoon-Worthy Art Deco Space in Paris Is For?

We’re quite used to a steady stream of fabulous spaces coming out of Paris, and this Art Deco stunner is no exception. While it looks like it could be a hotel or a fancy restaurant, it’s actually neither. Can you guess what it is?

The glamorous space, replete with all the bohemian 1920s splendor every American writer ever has daydreamed about going to the Left Bank of Paris to absorb and explore, is the latest location — and first in France — of the ever-expanding WeWork coworking empire.

Nestled on the Rue Lafayette in the 9th Arrondissement, just around the corner from the market Gare St Lazare, the WeWork Paris location channels all the explosion of French creativity that drew now-masterful American writers and artists like Ernest Hemingway and Josephine Baker to France in the years between the World Wars in the first place.

A moveable feast for the eyes (and undoubtedly, all the other senses, too), WeWork Paris features all the gleaming polished brass fixtures, aqueous velvet banquette tables, fluid lines and serene vintage skylit communal spaces one would typically expect in a top-floor, Michelin-starred restaurant, not necessarily an office share.

Designed in collaboration with Axel Schoenert Architectes, the space was inspired by les Annees folles (“the crazy years” aka The Roaring Twenties) in Paris — a collaborative movement that encouraged artists, intellectuals, and activists to mingle and debate, with salons being the gathering style du jour and Art Deco design and architecture being the dominant aesthetic.

“We used materials that alluded to opulence of les Annees folles but focused on the concept that WeWork La Fayette would embody the bohemian energy of Paris in the 1920s as a space for our members to meet, create, and collaborate,” the company said in a statement.

With coworking rates starting at €450 euro per month for a “Hot Desk”, all this glamour doesn’t come cheap — but art, if not the process of making it, is a priceless investment, no? And it doesn’t just happen comme ça, either.

Read more about the design process for building WeWork Paris and details of the space over on ELLE Decor this week.