Immeuble de la Société théosophique, Art Nouveau building in 7th arrondissement, France

The Immeuble de la Société théosophique at 4 Square Rapp, facing the Lavirotte building, has a stone base and brick upper floors. Its eclectic facade mixes troubadour pointed arches and a steep-roofed turret with Art Nouveau floral motifs and Art Deco geometric forms. Inside are a 450-seat amphitheatre, a grand hall with a dome, a staircase, a courtyard meeting room and first-floor library and reading rooms.

Built between 1912 and 1915 by architect Louis Lefranc, the building housed the local branch of the Theosophical Society, founded in the United States in 1875. Jacques de Marquette (1888-1969) held his Masonic sessions there. Under the Nazi occupation it housed the SSAD, and the society's archives kept in the building were looted by the Germans; Russia returned part of them in the 2000s.

The building is a Masonic lodge that also houses the Theosophical Society, a spiritualist association founded in the United States in 1875. Its Adyar publishing house issues the monthly magazine Le Lotus Bleu from here, and the fourth floor holds the Embassy of Costa Rica. The library and reading rooms on the first floor are among the spaces protected since 1997.

The building stands at no. 4 square Rapp in the 7th arrondissement, facing the Lavirotte building; the square is a short walk from the École Militaire and La Tour-Maubourg metro stations. The brick and stone facade, turret and balconies can be seen from the street. The listed interiors, including the 450-seat amphitheatre, are not open to casual visitors.

The building also houses the Embassy of Costa Rica on its fourth floor, and the Adyar publishing house, which issues the monthly magazine Le Lotus Bleu, has its offices there. The square Rapp facade faces the Lavirotte building directly across the street.