Hôtel de la Païva

The Hôtel de la Païva is a hôtel particulier, a type of large townhouse of France, that was built between 1856 and 1866, at 25 Avenue des Champs-Élysées by the courtesan Esther Lachmann, better known as La Païva. She was born in modest circumstances in the Moscow ghetto, to Polish parents. By successive marriages, she became a soi-disant Portuguese marchioness and a Prussian countess, this last marriage supplying the funds for the hôtel, at which she gave fabulous feasts. Since 1904, the house has been used by Travelers Club of Paris, a gentlemen's club that was all-male until recently.