Faubourg Tropical

Histoires De Carres > Spring - Summer 2021

The first Hermes store opened at 24 Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris in 1880, in a building of modest dimensions that also housed saddlery workshops and private apartments. The current neoclassical facade is the result of audacious building work carried out between 1924 and 1926, extending upwards to create additional floors and a surprising roof terrace. It is from this terrace that the exuberant tropical forest designed by the duo of Octave Marsal and Theo de Gueltzl appears to unfurl. Cheetahs, monkeys and cockatoos blend into this botanical canopy, which also conceals the unexpected figure of the mounted cavalryman from the top of Faubourg Saint-Honore, who has escaped to the jungle.