SENLIS – Entrepreneur (& famous ex-husband of Tory), Chris Burch, had always dreamed of owning an apartment in Paris, even narrowing down his dream to the exact building on rue de Seine. However, no such apartment was ever available. A few years ago, while Burch was visiting friends in Paris, they took a trip to Senlis, a cobblestoned village just outside the city. This village is where Burch discovered a 1608 hôtel particulier for sale. Despite the place needing major renovations, Burch, spontaneous by nature, impulsively bought the 10,000-square-foot house, which had the rare distinction of being landmarked on both the exterior and much of the interior, meaning that it still had many of its original 17th- and 18th-century floors, boiserie and beams.
Burch’s friend, Marco Scarani (who had also helped Burch on the interiors of his luxury surf resort in Indonesia) worked with French architect and interior designer Michel Pinet, a specialist in antique wallpapers and fabrics and renown for his restoration work on some of the country’s most treasured historical monuments, including the Château de Versailles. English landscape designer Tania Compton worked on the gardens, a place where French topiaries lead to a wild meadow, where grass tennis courts await afternoon matches, and pear and apple orchards fill the air with the scent of fruit.
Scroll through for a glimpse of this utterly exquisite space filled with French country charm–prints and patterns and canopy beds, chandeliers and boiserie and yet also a feeling of elegant relaxation…
Photography by Miguel Flores-Vianna for Architectural Digest
