Tucked behind a quiet courtyard in the Marais, this 17th-century apartment is the kind of Parisian secret you could pass by without ever knowing it existed. Unlike the grand Haussmannian boulevards most people picture when they think of Paris, the Marais tells a different story: older, more intimate, layered with centuries of Parisian life. When interior designer Julie Tysseire-Torres first stepped inside, she felt it immediately. “That apartment was quite unique,” Julie recalls. “It had so much character still intact, the beams, the stone walls, even the shelves the previous owner, an antique dealer, had built around the fireplace. You don’t often see apartments in the Marais that remain so original. It really felt like it had its own soul.” For Julie, that soul became the starting point. Rather than impose the ornate mouldings or grandeur more typical of central Paris, the renovation was guided by a quieter principle: let the building’s history lead the design.
A Dialogue Between Time and Style
The Soul of the Building
The apartment’s most striking features were the ones that spoke directly of its age: the stone fireplace with its carved surround, the brass-handled doors, the timber floors. Julie saw these not as relics to cover over, but as anchors for the entire scheme.
“We kept all the doors, the floors in the bedrooms, the fireplace, even the bookshelves put in by the antique dealer, as this felt part of the apartment’s story as much as the architectural features" she explains. “But we removed the vaulted ceilings that had been added later, they felt foreign to the Marais. It’s like in England: you wouldn’t put Victorian tiles in a Georgian house. You want to be true to the identity of the building.”
The result is a space that feels timeless not because it imitates Parisian clichés, but because it respects the truth of its own architecture.
Designing Through Provenance
To bring warmth and intimacy into the apartment, Julie turned to her favourite method: antique hunting. Paris is, after all, a city where history is found not just in the walls but on every market stall.
“When I go to the markets, I’m looking for pieces that feel like they could have been there forever, marble platters, old books, ornaments, fruit bowls. I found a beautiful wooden bowl with little beading detail, and a huge old seashell that sits on the shelves by the fireplace. They’re the kinds of objects that make a space feel lived in, like it’s been collected over years.”
This approach mirrors the Parisian tradition of layering interiors with found objects and heirlooms rather than relying on brand-new pieces. Each antique becomes part of the apartment’s story, contextualising it within the Marais without slipping into pastiche. It’s a reminder that when designing a home, it’s often these collected details, not shiny new purchases, that bring authenticity and depth.
Introducing Modern Touches:
Preserving history didn’t mean creating a museum piece. Julie balanced the apartment’s centuries-old bones with carefully chosen contemporary flourishes: velvet curtains, tailored headboards, sculptural lighting, and clean-lined armchairs. These pieces brought freshness without overpowering the quiet romance of the space.
“I think about form a lot,” Julie explains. “The shapes of furniture and lighting can echo the traditional architecture without copying it. A curved lamp or rounded chair can mirror the softness of old mouldings, while sharper silhouettes add a modern contrast.”
It is this interplay of shape and proportion that allows the rooms to feel both rooted and renewed. Modern elements slip in not as intrusions, but as natural extensions of the apartment’s character, enhancing the sense of a home that evolves with time.
