As part of the celebrations for the palace’s 400th anniversary, Versailles has recently reopened Marie Antoinette’s secret apartment to the public after an extensive seven-year renovation. The previously concealed rooms now on display include her boudoir, private library, dining room and billiards room, spread across two floors and overlooking an interior courtyard. The reopening of the apartment marks the final stage of a larger renovation of the gilded palace. Click or scroll on to take a look inside the famous French Queen's hidden retreat...
Marie Antoinette, previously the Archduchess of Austria, was only 14 years old when she moved to France to marry the future King Louis XVI. She was crowned in 1774, and immediately began the renovation of her own private apartment in Versailles, an extensive project which lasted until 1788, just one year before she and her husband were expelled from the palace by their revolutionary citizens. Reportedly without asking her husband’s permission, the young Queen commissioned the King’s head architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, to design the apartment.
Much to the architect’s irritation, she oversaw the decoration herself, imposing her own “audacious” style on the project. Access to the covert series of rooms is through the Queen's official bedchamber, via a rather unexpected access point. The grand space is adorned from floor to ceiling in glittering gold leaf and decked in lush satins and brocades. It was here that Marie Antoinette gave birth in public to her four children. Yet you'd be hard-pressed to spot that the ornate room is in fact a gateway to a secret royal wing...
A hidden door, which blends almost imperceptibly with the wall panelling when closed, leads to the private apartment where the Queen would withdraw from court life to be alone with her children or select members of her entourage. This suite of rooms was intended to be Marie Antoinette’s private sanctum away from her husband and is believed to be where the Queen first hid during the people’s march on Versailles during the French Revolution of 1789.
Among the array of secret rooms is the boudoir, which features an alcove decorated with elaborate panels commemorating the monarchy where, in less strenuous times, the Queen would take her midday rest on an ottoman. While the decoration on display here is of course not original, historians have spent the past decade researching and consulting contemporary accounts in order to reproduce the space as Marie Antoinette would have known it with as much accuracy as possible. In its renovated form, this room now features gold brocade curtains and upholstery, a parquet floor and a large gilded mirror.
While still decadent in its design, the rooms have a softer feel than the Queen's dazzling official bedchamber. “It took the perseverance of the curators at the Château de Versailles over many years to restore this perfect image to us and weave together the links between the Queen’s public and private lives,” said Catherine Pégard, the president of Versailles.
The apartment also includes its own library, originally designed to hold Marie Antoinette's expansive book collection, much of which is now housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Throughout the rooms, there are numerous elaborate wall coverings, including several depicting motifs from 18th-century Egypt and one known as the ‘Great Pineapple.’ For anyone keen to admire the late Queen’s opulent taste, the beautiful spaces are now on display to the public.
Read on to discover more secret living spaces around the world...
While some house-proud individuals love nothing more than showing off their real estate wins, there are many who prefer to keep theirs discreet. So discreet in fact, even the most eagle-eyed would struggle to spot them. From secret apartments inside world-famous landmarks to a home located atop a working crane, here’s our list of the world's most incredible private properties that have been hidden in plain sight.
St. Pancras International railway station in London is considered to be one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in Britain. Redeveloped in 2007, the station contains a five-star hotel, luxury shopping complex and a secret space hidden inside its clock tower. Originally used by the railway’s Board of Directors to conduct meetings, the hidden two-bedroom apartment has been beautifully restored, retaining a number of its original 19th-century features.
With impressive 15-foot ceilings, the apartment contains some of the grandest rooms in the building, including a spacious master bedroom and ensuite with a copper bath and double sink. There's also an additional sleeping area in a mezzanine space above the library. Its important features include a fireplace, ceiling decorations, and pointed arch windows, each of which is intricately decorated with Gothic Revival tracery. The gorgeous Gothic home hit the market back in mid-2021 for a cool £4.6 million ($5.8m).
Thanks, in part, to Baz Luhrmann's 2001 movie, the Moulin Rouge is one of Paris's most iconic landmarks. The historic cabaret venue is situated in the heart of Montmartre and was established in 1889, but the original property was destroyed by fire in 1915. To this day it remains a popular attraction with locals and tourists alike, but did you know that the building's world-famous rooftop windmill actually contains an amazing home? Let's look inside the real-life movie house...
In early 2022, the legendary Parisian landmark was transformed into a secretive holiday home, meticulously designed to capture the romance of the Belle Époque era. Airbnb worked with renowned 19th-century French historian Jean-Claude Yon to authentically renovate the windmill and inside you'll find a sumptuous boudoir, decked out with flowers, plush fabrics, and antique furnishings, as well as vintage costumes, fragrant perfumes and love letters from admirers. There's even an incredible rooftop deck underneath the windmill's iconic blades.
Around the world, there are endless extraordinary home conversions, but this one is unlike any we've seen before. Located in Brunswick, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia, this historic grain store complex was built as the HQ of prominent grain and wool merchant, Donald Melville, in 1888. The former Melville Grain Stores were converted into townhouses around 2002 but even now they're hard to spot when looking at the building from the outside. Can you see them?
Tucked away inside the store's historic interior you'll find 12 one-of-a-kind homes. Despite being buildings within a building, each property is light-filled and modern, with its own entrance door, front garden and garage space. This two-storey townhouse listed in early 2019 and features an open-plan living/dining area, a well-appointed kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It sold in April 2019 for AUD$765,000, which is around £398,500 ($506k).
Upon first glance, this crane looks like an ordinary building site addition, but there's far more to this sky-high piece of machinery than meets the eye. In fact, it isn't really a crane at all — at least not anymore. The listed loading crane lies in a former shipyard and was innovatively restored in 2013 by developer Edwin Kornmann Rudi and IAA Architecten Amsterdam. The project took two and a half years to complete. Let's head up and take a look around...
Amazingly, the high-altitude home is a 5-star hotel. Known as the Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel, the monumental landmark soars up more than 148 feet and harbours three luxury suites with different contemporary designs. This one, known as Mystique, lies at the very top of the crane and boasts bonkers interior design and floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the view. An exterior elevator connects each floor and you can stay here anytime you like.
When the Eiffel Tower opened in 1889, it left the world in awe. Never before had a seemingly functionless structure been attempted at such a grand scale. Little did the Parisians know that Gustave Eiffel’s modern masterpiece would soon leave the city in envy, as it was later revealed he had built a tiny private studio apartment at the top of the tower, ensuring Eiffel the most spectacular views of his beloved Paris.
On the third floor of the tower, Gustave’s secret apartment was small and simply furnished to the tastes of the time. It wasn’t long until the engineer started receiving requests for overnight stays at his fantastical place, however, it was only ever used to entertain family and friends. Today, the apartment has been transformed into a mini-museum containing mannequins of Monsieur Eiffel and his most notable guests.
In 1937, Gabrielle Coco Chanel took up residence in a suite at the Ritz, Paris overlooking her beloved Place Vandôme. Little did she know at the time she would end up staying for 34 years. A pioneer in both fashion and design, Chanel was particular about the way in which her luxurious apartment was styled. Over the years, she would bring in her own furniture until the space was completely transformed to suit her personal tastes.
As a designer who appreciated a subtle mix of simplicity and splendour, Chanel decorated her apartment in a minimalist palette of monochromes, grand gilded mirrors, and Coromandel Chinese lacquerware furniture. The apartment is now open to the public and is available for overnight stays. However, you'll need deep pockets because the rates range from €2,000 to €2,800 for a single night. That's as much as £2,400 ($3k).
The Cinderella Castle in Disneyland Florida has become the iconic symbol of Walt Disney’s magical world of fairy tales and make-believe. Built in 1971, it was inspired by a number of real and fictional fairytale castles, including the Palace of Versailles, Fontainebleau and the original castle design for Disney’s Cinderella. It contains a historic hall, restaurant, boutiques and a very secret apartment suite...
The suite was originally designed to be a holiday home for Walt Disney and his family, though it was sadly left incomplete after his death in 1966. Today, it functions as a luxury apartment for VIP guests and prize winners. There’s absolutely no way you can book this fairytale suite for a holiday stay, try if you will!
Dating back to 1078, the Tower of London is undeniably one of the world's most iconic buildings. The UNESCO World Heritage Site sits on the bank of the River Thames and over the years has served a variety of purposes. As well as being an armoury, a treasury, and a public record office, the iconic property was, and still is, home of the Crown Jewels of England. But that isn't all this incredible historic building is harbouring...
This timber-framed Tudor building stands out among the fortress-like structures of the Tower of London. Built in 1530 under Henry VIII, the royal residence is believed to have belonged to Queen Anne Boleyn, who stayed there prior to her coronation and at the time of her execution. Today, the structure still functions as a house and is home to the current Resident Governor of the Tower of London. Sadly, you can't step inside, but you can admire it from the tower's idyllic courtyard.
This colossal fortress tower in Aldeburgh, Suffolk was designed to keep Napoleon and his armies at bay. Built between 1808 and 1812, the quatrefoil-shaped tower would have housed four heavy guns, one at each of its corners. Today, the tower is rented out as a holiday house by the Landmark Trust and sleeps up to four guests at a time. Each of its four corners now contain the property’s two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom, while the central core of the building has been converted into a dining area.
Surrounded by a seven-storey block of modern apartments, this tiny octagonal structure remains something of a mystery to tourists and residents alike. Known locally as de Windketel, or the wind kettle, the 19th-century tower once functioned as part of the Wester Gasfabriek, Amsterdam’s gas and waterworks site. Today the tower is rented out as a holiday home to tourists looking to spend the night somewhere other than along the canals of the historic centre.
Split over three floors, it contains a kitchen, toilet, living room, bedroom and ensuite bathroom. The apartment offers a range of modern minimalist furnishings crafted by renowned Dutch designers, including a 1950s easy chair and table by Gipsen and a Woody wood rug by YL Design. Guests can enjoy the splendours of the nearby Westerpark, as well as the neighbourhood’s hip cafes and restaurants, most of which are contained within the original Wester Gasfabriek structures.
Have you ever wondered what life was like for Rapunzel in her tower? Well, now you can spend the night at one of Bologna’s tallest medieval towers. Soaring above the Italian city at 200 feet, the 7th-century structure, known as Torre Prendiparte, is made up of 12 storeys, one of which has been converted into a luxury apartment.
Guests are invited to explore the tower’s hidden treasures by day, which include a 17th-century prison and a rooftop terrace. The apartment itself contains an open-plan lounge and kitchen where guests can enjoy breakfast with a historic city view. A vaulted ceiling frames the mezzanine bedroom, which contains a double bed and antique furnishing fit for a medieval king.
They’re impossible to spot from street level, but a number of New York townhouses and apartment blocks are host to secret rooftop homes. This adorable shingled cottage is perched atop a property in Manhattan's sought-after East Village.
The tiny hidden home is a penthouse extension to a larger, two-storey apartment that contains a bedroom, bathroom and private terrace. The main apartment below consists of a living room, kitchen, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an additional artist’s studio. The cottage itself can be converted into a single residence or used as a guest space above the main property.
Sure, you’ve seen your fair share of church conversions, but this redeveloped 19th-century Baptist church in Fincastle, Virginia really is one of a kind. That's because it’s still possible to host a congregation inside the property to this day.
Though the back of the building has been converted into a private residence, the sanctuary, which contains an original altar, choir and pews, is still intact and ready for service. If the sound of church bells is like music to your ears, you’ll love the fact that the bell in this once-abandoned church is still in full working order. Located at the back and upper levels of the property, its residential quarter consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a bunch of spacious living rooms and studies.
There are plenty of live-in landmarks around the world and this is just one of them. This iconic 1920s clock tower in San Francisco has been transformed into a three-storey apartment. The tower forms part of a former factory, which has also been renovated and converted into luxury live/work spaces. Towering above the San Francisco skyline, expect epic views from its spacious rooftop terrace.
Original red brick and concrete walls dominate the property, while a magnificent ‘clock room’ containing the tower’s vintage clock faces and their exposed gears continue to function. The 3,000-square-foot, two-bedroom property features soaring ceilings, skylights, and exposed steel structural beams that give it a vintage factory feel, while a minimalist open-plan living room/kitchen and contemporary furnishings transform it into a space that’s perfectly suited to a contemporary lifestyle.
New York is full of spectacular hidden homes, as this property clearly proves. Built in 1905, the building once served as the New York City Police Headquarters, Today it contains 55 luxury homes, including a secret penthouse apartment situated in its domed clock tower.
Can you spot what’s odd about this building? It looks like a typical standard train station, but where have the train tracks gone? Built in 1849, Alton Station once served thousands of tourists travelling to Alton Towers Estates. Abandoned in 1970, the station and its adjoining stationmaster’s house now function as a Landmark Trust holiday home. A once-bustling booking office has been transformed into the master bedroom, with the original shelving, hatch and ticket barrier still intact.
Conservationists have managed to restore a number of original features, including the Victorian Minton tiles, plasterwork and fireplaces. While the ladies' waiting room has been converted into a kitchen, the main waiting area now functions as a spacious dining room. The property’s walls have been repainted in the London Midland and Scottish Railway colours.
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