The luxury Parisian lido and hotel Molitor finally opened on 19 May after being closed for 25 years, with membership to the exclusive health facility limited to 1,000 – of which 100 have already been snapped up.
The site is steeped in history and is renowned for hosting the first unveiling of the modern bikini, designed by Louis Réard, during a 1946 fashion show.
The €80m (US$109m, £64.8m) renovation took two and a half years after a call for tenders issued by the city of
Paris was won by phone network company Bouygues group,
Accor and real estate firm Colony Capital in 2012.
The 124-bedroom five-star hotel is being operated under Accor Hotel’s MGallery brand and its spa is run by
Clarins.
The spa features 13 treatment rooms, two of which are 50sq m (538sq ft) private suites. It will also include a hammam, sauna, sensory showers, a relaxation room, tea salon, hairdressers and barber shop. Spa equipment has been provided by Gharieni.
Molitor’s two historically-classified swimming pools have been restored, maintaining the facilities mustard-coloured walls as well as mosaics dating back to 1929 and original railings.
The all-year 46m (151ft) outdoor pool and the 33m (108ft) pool which is sheltered by a glass roof will both be heated to 28 degrees Celsius. Access to the pool is only for members of the hotel and health club. One day of swimming will cost €150 (US$200, £120).
In the late fifties, the outdoor pool was used as an ice rink. Since its closure, graffiti artists continued to use the walls as canvases for their work and in 2001 a rave within the facility's walls attracted 5,000 visitors.
The new Molitor also includes a restaurant – designed by the chef Yannick Alléno – booths around the outdoor ‘winter’ pool for mini art workshops or exhibition venues, in line with the complex’s concept ‘Pool, art, life’.
