Salon-goer, courtesan, painted lady of the 'demi-monde', the famous Païva, who was born Esther Lachmann in Moscow in 1819, had as many names as she turned heads. This 'lady of the bedroom' won great acclaim thanks to her charms which she used to quench her thirst for liberty. Fugitive, prostitute, wife and mistress, Paiva did not only leave tearful lovers and debt in her wake. She had a hotel particulier built in her name by her last lover, a wealthy cousin of Chancellor Bismarck, on the most beautiful avenue in the world. Legend has it that at the place where a man had thrown her out of his carriage in her youth, she had vowed to build "the most beautiful house in Paris".

At 25 Champs Elysées, the architectural exuberance and decadence of the building was only equaled by that of its mistress. Staircase and bathtub made from Algerian yellow onyx marble, Barbedienne fireplaces, an oversized bed ... over-the-top glitz signed by Pierre Manguin. Païva's hotel, elegantly renamed by the Goncourt brothers 'The Louvre of sex", welcomed the greatest minds of the time. 25 Avenue des Champs Elysées remains today a sumptuous model of decadence which can inspire anyone to put on airs of grandeur!