This apartment and Georges Dufayel

I didn't realize until today what an amazing building I have a very small part in but Laurence, my host, has a bigger part. She owns her apartment that used to be a huge fantastic department store.  Not only was it in a working class neighborhood, unlike other stores like Le Bon Marché,  it let people buy on credit (though Jacques Francois Crespin, the former owner, started the installment plan). The man was named Georges Dufayel. 

"In 1890, he became sole proprietor and renamed the store Les Grands Magasins Dufayel. Over the next few years, he developed a new and flamboyant type of retailing. He gradually enlarged the store to include a concert hall, theatre, and winter garden, and offered free lectures, science demonstrations, films, and performances there to draw in customers."

"The entrance porch was richly ornamented with carvings and statues representing themes like 'Credit' and 'Publicity' and surmounted by a dome 180 feet high. Inside the building were 200 statues, 180 paintings, pillars, decorative panels, bronze allegorical figures holding candelabras, painted ceramics and glass, and grand staircases, as well as a theatre seating 3000 that was decorated with silk curtains, white-and-gold foliage wreaths, and immense mirrors." (Wikipedia)

The living room in Laurence's apartment 

Can you imagine Wal-Mart or Target doing anything like this for its customers? 😉

Now I understand why the main door is so difficult! It's from 1890!