Our office was asked to participate in the tender for the renovation of the Klotild Palace and the Paris Courtyard located within it. The historic building was to be designed as a modern hotel. We wanted to create an interior design unit from this duality, so we compared the specific design language of the eras as a starting point. We found that the common set of elements of turn-of-the-century architecture and contemporary interior design are simple compositions built from unadorned lines and geometric shapes, often in a black and white color combination. Along these lines, but with modern materials and furniture, we evoked the atmosphere of the turn of the century in the interior, and we also incorporated specific existing elements – such as the hexagonal Mettlach mosaic of the covered shopping street – in a modern reinterpretation. We turned the black and white compositions, furnished with carefully selected furniture, into calm, homely spaces by complementing them with copper and leather, as well as some greenery.