A visit to the fifth arrondissement of Paris can leave you feeling unusually nostalgic in the current climate. Home to the Sorbonne, student-filled cafés and the all-around hip Rive Gauche, this place is a world away from France, on the brink of change. Also known as the Latin Quarter le cinquième There are retro glamour supplies and specialist shops ready for you to browse and lose yourself in.
During my early evening stroll, I come across a shop selling mandolins on the Rue des Écoles and a rare bookshop on the Rue du Cardinal-Lemoine with ironic protest material in the window. The Watergate CookbookNear the River Seine, you’ll find the Jardin des Plantes botanical gardens and the Natural History Museum; Just a few steps away from it all.
The area is mostly home to elegant 19th century buildings and Emily-in Paris-style boulangeries – that is, until you reach Rue de Poissy and come face to face with the Brutalist concrete façade of the new Hôtel Pilgrim. Once a garage, the space is now ready to take guests on a different kind of nostalgia journey: back to the 1970s.
If you’re old enough to remember, that particular decade had all sorts of opinions. But most would agree that it was a perfect era for furniture that focused on domestic comfort with wild curves rather than hard-edged elegance – an element that Hôtel Pilgrim resolutely celebrates.
Downstairs, sofas are soft rather than stylish, including a Mario Bellini modular version in cheerful thick blue velvet. There are also batiks suitable for the 70s. Having grown up in this era, I feel like I’m coming home, but to a much more stylish version.
Naturally, there’s a lot of orange. I was part of the least cool family in the universe, but even we had orange plastic Habitat kitchen chairs when I was growing up. Pilgrim has embraced the orange, but the overall tone is softer, less citrusy, more akin to the terracotta tones of my dad’s pride and joy, the chicken brick.
I can’t help but wonder if Pilgrim’s designers are old enough to have experienced the ’70s in its original format, but the atmosphere is refreshing nonetheless. Colorful and comfortable, it’s a welcome change from midcentury, with its steady diet of tapered chair legs and geometrically focused minimalism. This becomes altogether more comfortable and welcoming as hotel design progresses.
And it seems to work. The Pilgrim is the cheeriest Paris hotel I’ve ever stayed in; Guests chat with each other while drinking cocktails and playing the board games offered. There is no restaurant, but across from the mandolin shop is Bonvivant, which lives up to its name as a neighborhood wine bar.
Another bonus is the basement, where there’s a swimming pool that needs to be reserved for guests (at no extra charge), so it never gets crowded. There are massage beds and 70s-era wall tiles in familiar orange and brown tones.
The next morning I stop by the Center Pompidou, built by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano and opened in 1977. It has been a divisive piece of architecture ever since, but if you find the Louvre oppressive (which I do), the light-filled Pompidou and its connection to its surroundings are a delight. Make the most of it now, because it will be closed for a lengthy renovation at the end of 2024.
The city’s other architectural expression of the 70s, Les Halles, quickly became a hangout for both drug dealing and daring fashion shoots. The building, demolished in 2010, is now Westfield shopping centre, which makes me feel that the Pompidou Centre and the Pilgrim should be even more appreciated.
Hôtel Pilgrim, 11 rue de Poissy, Paris, double rooms from £175 (hotelpilgrim.paris)
Big sleep: Three more gorgeous European hotels rocking the ’70s vibe
Standard, London
Camden council built this library and office building opposite King’s Cross station, with its distinctive egg-box design, in 1979. Now, the ground floor Library bar celebrates the era with a gorgeous mix of seriously sourced furniture, overgrown houseplants and a fascinating collection of books. both kitsch and thoughtful.
Double room only from £192 (standardhotels.com)
Hoxton Brussels
Housed in IBM’s former headquarters, the Victoria Tower’s Brutalist exterior gives way to Mike Leigh’s 1970s exuberance inside, with pink bathrooms, vintage furniture, velvet armchairs and rotary telephones. But away from the retro rooms and suites, things are getting more 2020s with Peruvian-inspired cuisine at the hip Cantina Valentina.
Doubles only from £168 (thehoxton.com/brussels)
Hotel Oddsson, Reykjavik
Open-air ducts (in place for Iceland’s geothermal heating), textured wallpaper, modular sofas by Mario Bellini, pink bathroom sinks and a belief in egalitarian, affordable hotels for all. Rooms at this Icelandic hotel come in every configuration, and all have direct access to Reykjavík’s beautiful Grensásvegur district.
B&B double rooms from £139 (oddsson.is)