A Paris apartment untouched for 70 years:Treasure trove seen after owner locked up & fled WWII

[Are_grits_groceries]

(Lots of pics)
Caked in dust and full of turn-of-the century treasures, this Paris apartment is like going back in time.
Having lain untouched for seven decades the abandoned home was discovered three years ago after its owner died aged 91.
The woman who owned the flat, a Mrs De Florian, had fled for the south of France before the outbreak of the Second World War.
She never returned and in the 70 years since, it looks like no-one had set foot inside.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323297/Inside-Paris-apartment-untouched-70-years-Treasure-trove-finally-revealed-owner-locked-fled-outbreak-WWII.html#ixzz2T5Bgp7Y3

What a trip in the Wayback Machine!

[RKP5637]

1. K&R!!! n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. Say whatever you like about the Mail

they always produce the best quality pictures.

Any one into an old French look check out The Provencal Faerie Hearth.

[senseandsensibility]

21. Plus when they cover American crime stories

they do so in an interesting way, and take interesting (not gory or sensational) pictures of the accused home, etc. They also do good interviews with victims and witnesses and cover things the American media never touches.

[arely staircase]

3. all that is missing is miss havasham's wedding cake.

nt

[pansypoo53219]

32. i have done estate sales similar. tho not so many years, and the logest DID involve a wedding cake.

they found pieces in the freezer. i still have flashbacks of the jars of canned mystery food in the basement. could have been fruit or vegies. that sale was so memorable.

[jaysunb]

35. The first thing I thought about...

Great Expectations. Thanks for the memories.

[CTyankee]

4. does anyone know the period/style of that dresser?

It is gorgeous!

[MrScorpio]

5. Baroque, perhaps? nt

[Archae]

26. That's only if they dropped it.

[MrScorpio]

29. OMG

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. I believe the dresser would be categorized as one of French Empire style

This style was inspired by Napolean and his keen interest in Egypt and the classic civilizations of Rome and Greece. Without a more thorough examination, it is hard to be definitive.

Clues to the piece can be found in the griffins on the legs and the medallion shaped mirror flanked by intricate laurel leaves.

Cheers!

[CTyankee]

25. Thank you. Are you an antique furniture dealer by any chance?

[Vinnie From Indy]

28. Auctioneer and certified appraiser among other things!

Cheers!

[CTyankee]

33. That's a pretty impressive piece. Is it worth a LOT of money, do you think?

Of course, who knows if it was an original to its era.

I've been trying to think of why this woman would go poof! just like that and leave that fabulous apt. behind. I wonder if she was Jewish and changed her identity during the war and then just never went back to her old life...odd, isn't it?

[randome]

6. The psychology of someone like this fascinates me.

To have lived so long without the desire for change. What kind of a mind is it that insulates itself so completely? Did she notice how the things surrounding her began to age (i.e. deteriorate) or did her eyes only see them in their original state?

Did she live entirely within her own mind?

Fascinating.

On edit: whoops, seems I didn't read carefully enough. I thought it was the apartment of someone who still lived there. Oh, well...

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Bay Boy]

7. Did she not hear that...

...the war ended and that her side won?

[Warpy]

8. I remember stuff just like that

Since my grandparents were all born in the 1870s, their taste was definitely Victorian. While the Victorian stuff might look nice with the carvings, the upholstery was horse hair and it was incredibly uncomfortable to sit on.

That was by design since so many of the Victorians put on a show of sitting without ever leaning back and generally remaining uncomfortable in their whalebone and stiff shoes.

That whole flat looks like my grandmother's house in upstate NY. I recognize it well, even to the point that it looks like they left in a huge hurry.

I wonder why she never went back. Was she unhappy growing up there? Surely there would have been a few odds and ends she missed as she grew older and made her peace with the ghosts of an ugly childhood, if there was one. Or did she simply assume the Nazis had trashed the whole place and couldn't bear to look at what they'd done?

Neither would have deterred me but I've been poor most of my life. I suppose if you've closed the door on your early life and tried to nail it shut and have plenty of money to start a new one, it doesn't much matter what you left behind.

[demwing]

9. How is this possible?

Why was the property not seized over delinquent property taxes?

[Phentex]

10. It does make you wonder...

I didn't read the entire article but you'd think there would have been some reason to discover this before now!

[spinbaby]

11. She was a wealthy woman

Paid her rent but never went back.

[demwing]

16. even the wealthiest don't pay 70 years in advance /nt

[PatSeg]

37. She paid the taxes until she died

to keep it in the family. It was when she died that they unlocked the door. The apartment was part of the estate that her descendants inherited.

[bluestate10]

20. Taxes may have been paid by a Trust. What surprises me is that no one entered the place. nt

[Raine1967]

13. Amazing -- I decided to look up this woman and I have to tell you I am a bit shocked-

I know it is the Mail -- who Generally like as an aggregate source for pictures etc., but this story is almost word for word replica article from the Telegraph in 2010. (I know it has nothing to do with your post, TSS)

Check this out, the Mail:

One expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900. 'There was a smell of old dust,' said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery.

But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.

The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and Mrs de Florian’s grandmother, Marthe de Florian, a beautiful French actress and socialite of the Belle Époque.
...

He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.

The starting price for the painting was £253,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for £1.78million, a world record for the artist.

'It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion,' said Mr Ottavi.

Article is credited to Leon Watson

The Telegraph, 2010:

Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.

"There was a smell of old dust," said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.

But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.

The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.
...
He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.

The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.

"It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion," said Mr Ottavi.

By Henry Samuel in Paris 7:49PM BST 04 Oct 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042281/Parisian-flat-containing-2.1-million-painting-lay-untouched-for-70-years.html

Maybe a coincidence? Either way, strange.

[redqueen]

14. I *knew* I'd seen this story before.

Thanks for finding the original source.

[JDPriestly]

18. The apartment was discovered a few summers ago.

Has anyone found the address? I'd love to know precisely where that is.

[Raine1967]

22. That's what I was looking to find myself. I did however find this:

http://www.house-crazy.com/a-parisian-apartment-frozen-in-time-for-70-years/

The extraordinary Marthe de Florian was having a torrid affair with the married artist Boldini during the flourishing Belle Époque era in Paris. He captured her image on canvas in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24. The painting was kept private and handed down to Marthe de Florian’s granddaughter along with the Paris apartment. The granddaughter’s name remains unpublished due to strict French privacy laws.
...
As for the apartment, I could not find any paper trail of what happened to it – presumably it sold or perhaps it may still be in the possession of the same family. The exact address has been kept private due to French civil law.

Her grandmother what something else!

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Reminds me of Dr. Ing Hay's building in John Day Oregon

” When the Kam Wah Chung building was reopened in the late 1960s after being boarded up for more than a decade, over 500 herbs and other medicines were discovered, one of the largest collections of traditional Chinese medicine in the United States."
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=5

Also reminds me of Los Angeles and the Original Spanish Kitchen which sat in stasis for years with tables set and owners absent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Spanish_Kitchen

[vinny9698]

17. Looks like the Germans had a better occupation plan then the Americans in Iraq.

Should have followed the German plan of occupation in Iraq.

[DonRedwood]

19. Fun read! THanks for sharing

[subterranean]

23. Interesting...but this story is old news.

It appeared in the Telegraph in 2010. I wonder why the Daily Mail is recycling it three years later.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042281/Parisian-flat-containing-2.1-million-painting-lay-untouched-for-70-years.html

[Are_grits_groceries]

24. Thank you so much for showing me the error of my ways.

I didn't see anything about this. I don't live to repost old news. In reading the comments, it would seem that others were also unaware of it.
Since I don't have a direct line to the Daily Mail's editor, I have no idea why they printed the story again.
Shall I DM you before I post anything else to make sure it as not been seen by anyone at any time?

[subterranean]

36. I'm sorry if I offended you.

That was definitely not my intention. When I searched for more information about the article you posted, I happened to notice that it was originally reported in 2010. I just thought it was odd that it was being reprinted three years later, that's all. Certainly not your fault! I appreciate you sharing this interesting story.

[xchrom]

27. Wow! Nt

[HooptieWagon]

30. Wow.

How in the world is it no one entered the apt? There was no inspection for vermin, fire marshall, plumbing/electrical, or building codes? Amazing!

[gateley]

31. Fascinating -- and spooky! Like something you might see on the Twilight Zone!

[applegrove]

34. How cool is that.