Page 203 - B-ALL#47 ENG
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The Moorish bathroom welcomed the marquise in her onyx basin covering a silvered and chiseled bronze basin. From the three taps flowed water of course but also milk, lime and champagne depending on the mood of the courtesan. Her bedroom had a large fireplace whose malachite surround was framed by two gilded bronze nymphs.
The winter garden formed an extension to the rear, which has now disappeared, and the stables could accommodate nine horses and six horse-drawn carriages. Visitors never crossed paths thanks to two separate porches for arrivals and exits... the marquise knew her world.
She loved her palace so much that she had another one built on the same model in 1868 in Silesia, present-day Poland, Neudeck Castle. The architect Hector Lefuel made a similar decor but in even larger proportions. The Marquise moved there in 1877 after accusations of espionage that forced her to leave France. She died there on January 21, 1884 at the age of sixty-five.
Unfortunately, the house was burned down in 1945 and razed in 1962.
The widowed Count Henckel von Donnersmarck remarried Catherine von Slepzow (1862-1929) and sold the Parisian hotel to a Berlin banker James Soloschin.
A former cook to the Tsar, Pierre Cubat, set up a renowned restaurant there which brought together all of Paris to its tables. Despite its success, the establishment was closed in 1898 and the Travelers Club, a club for gentlemen, moved there in 1903 before acquiring it in 1923.
Since then, it is in this place historically dedicated to the pleasure of men that members can meet in the former palace of one of the famous courtesans who made the heyday of the capital.


































































































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