Have you ever noticed this building that looks like a Chinese pagoda located a stone’s throw from Parc Monceau ? Let’s discover It !

The first Sino-French building in Paris

It’s impossible not to notice this atypical monument while strolling around Parc Monceau: with its Chinese pagoda look and facade clad in red, it catches the eye of any passer-by ! Originally, in the 19th century, it was a “classic” mansion that blended into the mass. It was in 1925 that Ching Tsai Loo, an Asian art collector and dealer, bought the building: out of love for his country, he decided to completely transform this place into a mansion made in China ! A good coat of red paint, several curved eaves, ornamentation typical of Chinese architecture and the building becomes the first Sino-French building in the capital.

A valuable artisitc collection

Retaining the original structure of the building, he adds eaves to it, curved roofs such as those found on Buddhist places of worship, and completes the whole with a majestic portal adorned with several sculptures. In 1948, Ching-Tsai Loo delegated his art gallery to his daughter. After the collector’s death in 1957, Maison Loo remained in the family for a few more years, but art-related activities drastically decreased with the closure of China’s borders to antique exports. Business declined gradually and the grandson finally sold the house in 2010 to a private company. First restored as a new private museum by the investor, the pagoda will finally remain open for a short time: in 2012, it closes its doors to the public. To date, Maison Loo has become a room dedicated to private events. The archives of the collection are still kept in the library, which includes more than 2000 books relating to Asian art, Chinese porcelain, sometimes hundreds of years old, furniture…

La Pagode

48 rue de Courcelles 75008 Paris