Drouot’s renovation was initially slated to start in December 2000 without hindering auction activity. But at the start of this year new, more ambitious plans, costing some £4m, were unveiled. Work was re-scheduled to start in July, with auctions transferred to a converted railway depot in the Batignolles district for the rest of 2001. Hostility from some commissaires-priseurs about moving to this “unfashionable” part of Paris, and problems with obtaining building permission to adapt the site, mean these premises have now been deemed “unsuitable”.
Drouot President Dominique Ribeyre, who is scouring Paris for an alternative site, admits that he is disappointed by the delay, yet feels that not to have been at Drouot for the opening of the French market would have been a grave mistake.
Drouot facelift delayed
Work to transform and modernise the Hôtel Drouot has been delayed for a third time due to “technical and material constraints” and will now begin in March/April 2002 and last until September next year.
