La Samaritaine

By on 27/06/2010 in Attractions
La Samaritaine night viewLa Samaritaine night view

La Samaritaine (French pronunciation: [la samaʁitɛn]) was a large department store in Paris, France, located in the 1st Arrondissement. The nearest metro station is Pont-Neuf. It is currently owned by LVMH, a luxury-goods maker. The store, which had been operating at a loss since the 1970s, was finally closed in 2005 because the building did not meet safety codes. Various plans for redeveloping the building have come to nothing so far, as the representatives of the store’s founders have argued with new owners LVMH over the building’s future as a department store or a mixed-use development.

History

The store was first opened in 1869 by fr:Ernest Cognacq and fr:Marie-Louise Jaÿ, his wife and incidentally the first clothing vendor at Le Bon Marche, a rival department store. Cognacq began his trade selling ties under an umbrella on the Pont Neuf, then took a space on the fr:rue de la Monnaie, starting out on a small scale with a very small boutique. By 1900, the couple had decided to expand their enterprise, giving birth to the large edifice seen today, the “Grands Magasins de La Samaritaine.”

Inspired by the commercial methods of Aristide Boucicaut to those of Le Bon Marche, Ernest Cognacq drew upon various sources in organizing the ideal (and ideally managed) department store. Cognacq arranged La Samaritaine as a collection of individually owned stores, each managed by true “petits patrons” who operated in concert yet autonomously.

Through the steady acquisition of neighboring buildings, Ernest Cognacq regularly expanded what could no longer be called a “boutique.” The surrounding city blocks were entirely reworked and reconstructed progressively from 1883 to 1933. (Notably, between 1903 and 1907, this work was taken on by the architect Frantz Jourdain, who applied an Art Nouveau aesthetic to the building.) Further structural changes were successfully completed in 1933 by Henri Sauvage who, in his turn, reworked the architecture to reflect the aesthetic principles of Art Deco. The result was an eleven-story department store, one that is today considered a historical monument.

Falling prey to the national deficit of the 1990s, La Samaritaine saw itself shrink: it was bought in 2001 by LVMH, the luxury-goods company that had just previously purchased Le Bon Marche. On June 15, 2005, in order to update the 19th-century building to modern standards of security, or for purposes of restructuring, as the labor unions believe, the department store was closed. It is estimated that La Samaritaine will reopen its doors by the end of 2011.

The name La Samaritaine (“the Samaritan Woman”) comes from a hydraulic pump installed near the Pont Neuf, which operated from 1609 to 1813. The front of the pump featured a gilded bas-relief of the Samaritan Woman drawing water for Jesus at the well as described in the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel. Cognacq’s original stand was on the former site of this structure.

The store was well-known for its rooftop cafe, which afforded excellent views of the city. (Text Source: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

La Samaritaine is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. So, you may want to see;

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