Augustin Scholl no relation Eugène Legrain
Building and its furnishings
La Païva commissioned architect Pierre Manguin to build the hôtel in Italian Renaissance style. He worked with the sculptors Léon Cugnot, Eugène Delaplanche, Eugène Legrain, Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and Jules Dalou. There is a ceiling by Paul Baudry.
During construction of the hôtel, Augustin Scholl said to those who asked about the progress of the work, "The construction is well underway: just ask the sidewalk."The hôtel is especially famous for its beautiful yellow onyx staircase, probably unique in the world. The stairs inspired the contemporary witticism by the playwright François Ponsard, adapted from Phèdre, "Ainsi que la vertu, le vice a ses degrés", meaning "Like virtue, vice has its degrees". Degrés means both steps in a staircase and levels of a hierarchy.