Hôtels Particuliers du Marais

The first goal on this trip to Paris was to see and hopefully photograph as many more Hôtels Particuliers du Marais (old Paris mansions in the Marais neighborhood) as I could find.  My first encounter with these old mansions in Paris intrigued me, so after reading a bit of their history, I wanted to try to locate as many as possible.

This first encounter of Hôtels Particuliers du Marais included:

• Carnavalet Museum, 16 rue des Francs Bourgeois
• Lamoignon, Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris, 24 rue Pavée
• Beauvais, 68 rue François Miron
• Soubise, 60 rue des Francs Bourgeois
• Clisson, 58 rue des Archives
• Rohan-Guéménée, Maison de Victor Hugo, 7 Place Vosges
• Sully, 62 rue Saint-Antoine,  Center for National Monuments.

The Hôtels Particuliers du Marais I found this trip

The Hôtels Particuliers du Marais that I listed for this expedition (including those above) are all  fairly closely to one another. Getting out early enough to have nice clean shots of the façades without people or cars blocking the view did not turn out to be as easy as I had anticipated. Narrow streets along with a late rising sun in the month of October stymied my efforts but not nearly so much as the delivery trucks that seemed to be everywhere!

Some of these Hôtels Particuliers we have walked by multiple times and never took notice. Why? How? Because we were busy talking, dodging people on the sidewalk, never taking the time to look up – who knows, but after focusing on the door mantles of these beautiful old homes I am going to be looking up much more frequently from now on so I don’t miss the beauty of older buildings! In fact, I stumbled across a couple of Hôtels Particuliers in the Marais  this time just by looking up more frequently!

This is just one of those Hôtels Particuliers that was not on my list but the beauty of the ornamentation is what caught my eye.

A Surprise Find

Hôtel Fieubet at 2 bis quai des Célestins/1 rue du Petit-Musc has an amazing facade. Built in the late 1500s and purchased in 1676 by Chancellor Fieubet for Queen Marie-Thérèse, Today it serves as home to a school, L’Ecole Massillon.

Hôtel Fieubet is near the Port Arsenal and across the street from Square Henri Galli.

Is my list an exhaustive list? I seriously doubt it simply because we stumbled upon others as we walked that were not on my original list. And there are Hôtels Particuliers in other neighborhoods as well.  For now, I am just focusing on the Marais which encompasses the third and fourth arrondissements in Paris.  Our apartment was on rue des Arquebusiers so we were very close to many of these beautiful old mansions. I hope you enjoy the photos and a small bit of history about each one.

Hôtel du Grand Veneur

Hôtel du Grand Veneur is located at 60 rue du Turenne. It was constructed in 1637 for Charles Guénéguad and was also called Hôtel d’Ecquevilly because it was owned by the Marquis Vincent Hennequin d’Ecquevilly. The sanglier (wild boar) above the door celebrates his favorite past-time of hunting. As the Marquis was the master of the royal hounds for the king, the house was the Hôtel du Grand Veneur, a Grand Venuer  being a master of the royal hounds. In 1823 the Hôtel became a Franciscan Convent and today it is in the process of being transformed into apartments.

Sanglier over the door of Hôtel du Grand Veneur

Grand Veneur

Hôtel de Montrésor

Hôtel de Montrésor, located at 52 rue de Turenne has also been called Hôtel de Gourgues. It was built for Claude de Bourdeille who was the comte of Montrésor (we’re headed to his Château in a few days). He was also the grand-nephew of the famous French writer Pierre de Bourdeille. (note: Comte = Count and is the equivalent of an English earl). Today this is an elementary school and was bustling with parents and children at 8:30 in the morning.

Montrésor

Hôtel de Rohan

The Hôtel de Rohan, located at 87 rue Vieille du Temple was built for the brother of the Princess of Soubise. This Hôtel along with Hôtel de Soubise houses the National Archives. The gardens here were opened to the public in 2011 and are supposed to be spectacular. We will be visiting them in the late spring.

Hôtel d’Héroët

Hôtel d’Héroët, 54 rue Vieille du Temple (actually at the corne of Vieille du Temple and rue des Francs-Bourgeois): Born in the late 1400s, Antoine Héroët was a court poet.

Héroët

Hôtel d’Alméras

Located at 30 rue des Francs-Bourgeois,  Hôtel d’Alméras, built in 1539 for Jean de Fourcy who held the post of treasurer to the King. He sold the mansion in 1611 to Pierre d’Alméras who served as secretary and advisor to Henri IV. Apartments fill this historic building today.

Alméras

Museums

Hôtel Salé, which houses the Picasso Museum, is found at 5 rue Thorigny. Built by a salt-tax farmer Pierre Aubert, its name Salé means “salty” in French,

Hôtel de Guénégaud now houses the  Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature. Found at 69 rue des Archives and constructed in 1651 for Jean-François de Guénégaud des Brosses who served as secretary of the King.

The Hôtel de Saint-Aignan or Hôtel d’Avaux is found at 71 rue du Temple. It was built in 1544 for Claude Mesmes who was the comte d’Avaux. Today it houses the Museum for Jewish Art and History.

Hôtel Berlize

Located at 41 rue du Temple, Hôtel Berlize,was built in 1580 by the parents of the Lord of Berlize.

Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil,

Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, located at 47 rue Vieille du Temple, was built in 1657. It is also called the Hôtel of the Ambassador of Holland. Beaumarchais lived here from 1776-1787 during which time he wrote the Marriage of Figaro.

Hôtel Chalon-Luxembourg

Located at 26 rue Geoffroy l’Asnier, Hôtel Chalon-Luxembourg   is a « small mansion » built in 1623 for Guillaume Perroche who was butler for the King.

Hôtel de Chenizot

Jean-François Guyot de Chenizot  bought The Hôtel de Chenizot at 51 rue Saint-Louis en l’Ile in 1719. He made transformations to both the façade and courtyard. It served as a residence for the Archbishop to Paris, a police headquarters and as private residences. (Both Berthillon ice cream and La Cure Gourmand cookies are on rue St-Louis if you need a snack.)

As you can see, the doors of these Hôtels Particuliers du Marais sometimes provide the best views. And, in other cases, the doors and their lintels are just plain unremarkable. Often, beauty hides behind them! If you are lucky, someone may be entering the door and you and get a glimpse of what lies beyond.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy a previous post on the Hôtels Particuliers.

Map

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