elements, the light switches, radiator covers, display cases, built-in furniture… all bear witness to the attention that Mallet-Stevens paid to details. The black painted steel tubes above the windows, for hanging screens or fabric panels to keep out the sun or prying eyes, survive. So do the small benches arranged in a circle on the uppermost terrace. The common areas also remain intact: the great glass entrance door, designed by Prouvé, still opens, almost miraculously considering its weight, thanks to a system that slides its panels laterally. Mounted on metal frames, they are protected by staggered rows of accordion-fold steel blades. These are echoed by a corresponding pattern of mirrors in the entry vestibule. As it surely did in 1927, climbing the grand spiral staircase around the void where the central structural column should be is a heady experience; equally powerful are the massive yet velvety wooden stair rail that winds upward in an unbroken line, the infinite prolongation of the spiral by mirrors perfectly angled at