Paris is packed full of busy backstreets, bustling markets and lots of Parisians. Unless you’re willing to beat the crowds up the Eiffel Tower, it’s very rare to find a spot where you can look down on it all.

Last weekend I was given a private tour of an old department store on the banks of the River Seine. The building is a rich mix of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. I was taken up to the viewing gallery where you get a 360 degree look at the whole of Paris. On the old balustrade running around the roof there’s a beautiful ceramic plaque drawing out the view. Painted in 1925, you can see Paris’s new builds and the city’s changing skyline alongside the historic landmarks. 

It is a time capsule of a building that shows you the sprawling rooftops of Paris through the eyes of the 1920’s. Jazz, flappers and Marcel Duchamp.