When a 91-year-old woman died in 2010, her family discovered she had inherited an apartment in Paris from her grandmother. In 1942 she had abandoned i

“Time Capsule” Apartment in Paris Found Untouched for 70 Years

submited by

Style Pass

2025-01-19 15:00:13

When a 91-year-old woman died in 2010, her family discovered she had inherited an apartment in Paris from her grandmother. In 1942 she had abandoned it in perfectly preserved—and decorated—condition.

In 2010, a 91-year-old woman died in the south of France, leaving behind her grandmother’s apartment in Paris, which she had inherited at some point. Her family tasked auctioneer Olivier Choppin-Janvry and his team with visiting the flat in the 9th arrondissement, near the Pigalle red-light district and Opera Garnier, and inventorying its contents. When the unsuspecting experts unlocked the front door, they found it virtually untouched since before World War II. “There was a smell of old dust,” recalled Choppin-Janvry.

This deceased owner, known in the press only as Madame de Florian, had fled the vulnerable city at the outbreak of World War II as the German offensive neared.

It was 1942 and she was just 23 years old when she locked up the apartment she had inherited from her grandmother and left town. For the following 70 years, de Florian paid the rent and upkeep on the home without ever returning.