La Samaritaine

Ernest Cognacq, who began selling ties under an umbrella on the Pont Neuf, and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ built La Samaritaine from 1870 into the department store whose Art Nouveau ironwork and peacock frescoes, later joined by Art Deco façades along the Seine, made it a listed monument of Parisian commercial architecture. Closed in 2005 for safety, it reopened in 2021 after a monumental LVMH restoration that returned the Toupillier staircase, the glass roof, and the enamelled signage to full polish, adding a contemporary glass wave along Rue de Rivoli. The store now trades as a luxury concept — beauty halls, designer floors, restaurants — but the building is the star attraction: stand under the glass canopy and climb the grand staircase for the frescoes. It is the rare department store worth visiting purely as architecture, with the shopping as a supporting act.

Climb the Toupillier staircase to the top landing for the peacock fresco at eye level — the building's best view is inward, up through its own ironwork.