[2] Having a taste for French culture,[a] he moved to 41 quai d'Anjou in Paris, where he tried to gain recognition at first as a designer of furniture and interior decorations.

He was naturalized as a French citizen in 1895 and joined the Central Society of Architecture, sponsored by the famous architect Charles Garnier.

[1] In 1908 Niermans renovated the Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo, expanding it and decorating the interior in an opulent baroque style.

Two artists of lesser importance become close friends, Gervais and Lucas (who executed the paintings of the ambulatory of the Hotel Negresco).

In 1912 Niermans created the Hotel Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice for the Romanian hotelier Henri Négresco.

This was a time when the Riviera was at the height of its popularity as a resort for the wealthy or high-born, two years before the outbreak of World War I.

[3] It was a rectangular building that occupied a full block of the Promenade des Anglais with four hundred rooms, each with a private bath.

[11] After World War I, Niermans worked in partnership with architects Émile Molinié (1877-1964), Charles Nicod and Albert Pouthier.

[12] Édouard-Jean Niermans died on 19 October 1928 in his chateau vineyard in Montlaur, Aude, about which he was passionate during the last years of his life.