Architect Auguste Perret’s Salle Cortot offers a blank exterior to passersby, but its interesting interior can be experienced for free during lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays!

The Salle Cortot on the Rue Cardinet in the 17th arrondissement is the concert hall of the École normale de musique de Paris, an institution that was created in 1919 by the pianist Alfred Cortot.

The plot was a very awkward size for a concert hall, but Perret liked a challenge. He chose to use only concrete (reworked to look like wood) with the goal of making the building ‘ring like a violin’. He claimed his inspiration for the building came when listening to pilgrims singing under a tree canopy, and there certainly is an organic feel to the building.

Concerts, mainly featuring students and teachers from the neighbouring school, are held afternoon and evening.