Born in Sosnowiec to a Polish-Jewish family, architect and interior designer Bruno Elkouken (1893-1968), associated with the Praesens grouping, was active in France from 1920 to 1937. Elkouken's architectural designs from this period, which were in the spirit of the functionalist realisations of Le Corbusier and Robert Mallet-Stevens, were highly acclaimed by the public. Supporters of his work included Helena Rubinstein, owner of a cosmetics empire with Polish-Jewish roots, for whom he completed the Studio Raspail project at 216 boulevard Raspail.

Helena Rubinstein's patronage

Helena, or rather, Chaja Rubinstein (1872-1965) was born in the Kazimierz district of Krakow to an indigent, large family of Orthodox Jews. To avoid an arranged marriage, at the age of 24 she left for Austria-Hungary and then Australia, where she opened her first beauty salon in 1902. With determination, business sense and pioneering ideas for facial cosmetics, she soon built the world's first cosmetic empire. Rubinstein's brand activities contributed to the spread of make-up and the breaking down of social restrictions on women's physicality. The pioneer of the cosmetics industry was one of the most important patrons of the era. During her lifetime in Paris, she established an eclectic art collection that included objects classified as primitive art as well as works by contemporary artists, including Pablo Picasso, Sarah Leipzig and Louis Marcoussis, among others. She was also interested in architecture. In the 1930s, after rejecting the first concept of a housing estate designed for bohemian artists by Ernő Goldfinger, she entrusted the design of a building on boulevard Raspail to Elkouken. The idea of building an edifice combining various functions - residential, creative and entertainment - sought to meet the new needs of the district. It provided a luxurious counterpoint to the freestanding modernist artists' villas, such as the flat of Mela Muter or Chana Orloff, increasingly popular in the era.

Studio Raspail

Located in the heart of the 14th district, this modernist building, built between 1929 and 1932, stands out from the street with its austere plan and facade geometry. In this project, Elkouken, in keeping with Le Corbusier or Auguste Perret, kept facade decoration to a minimum. "Entering the flat is like finding oneself in the middle of an ocean liner, a symbol of power, an archetype of the industrial dream of the 1920s, a laboratory where art and technology converge to provide humanity with a living environment synonymous with progress," poetically described the project in the pages of Vanity Fair.

The building originally included a cinema on the ground floor, studios and flats arranged as duplexes, designed for bohemian artists on the floors, and a Rubinstein penthouse on the top floor. The living and studio spaces were adequately lit thanks to six rectangular windows arranged on the two bay windows of the façade facing the boulevard Raspail.

Legendary cinema

Operating in the building from 1934 to 1982, the cinema, initially called Raspail 216 and later as Studio Raspail, was a studio cinema. For almost half a century of its operation, it was managed by cinephiles including, among others, the composer Jean Wiéner. The cinema originally had 278 seats and a balcony, but this number was reduced to 220 in the 1950s due to the installation of more comfortable seats.

Today, the cinema space belongs to the company Les Postes, télégraphes et téléphones (PTT), which makes it available for cultural events.