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| Hôtel de Talleyrand-Périgord |
Location: Corner of Rue Saint-Florentin and Rue de Rivoli
English translation
"Built in 1767 by Chalgrin to Gabriel's designs, the hotel's first owner was Louis Phélippeaux, Duke of La Vrillière, Count of Saint-Florentin and minister under Louis XV. After his death in 1777, it belonged to the Duke of Fitz-James, descendant of King James II of England, and then to the Princess Salm-Salm, before becoming the embassy of the Republic of Venice for a year in 1792. Transformed into a saltpeter factory during the Revolution, the building was acquired by the Marquis d'Hervas, who sold it to Talleyrand in 1812. After the fall of the Empire in April 1814, the diplomat lodged Tsar Alexander I here. In 1838, the hotel came into the possession of the Rothschild family, who sold it to the United States of America in 1950." (Translated by DeepL and ChatGPT)Background notes
- The Hôtel was built in a neoclassical style by Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin (1739–1811), a French architect renowned for designing the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Chalgrin built the hôtel based on the designs of Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698–1782), a prominent French architect who served as the chief architect to King Louis XV, known for designing the Petit Trianon at Versailles.
- The Hotel was originally named Hôtel de Saint-Florentin, after its first owner, Louis Phélypeaux, Duke of La Vrillière (1705–1777) and Count of Saint-Florentin. He was a French statesman who held various ministerial positions under Louis XV, including Secretary of State for the King's Household.
- After Phélypeaux's death in 1777, the next owner was Charles de Fitz-James (1712-1787), 4th Duke of Fitz-James, a descendant of James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, the illegitimate son of King James II of England.
- In the early 1790s the hotel was acquired by Princess of Salm-Salm, or Princess Amalie Zephyrine of Salm-Kyrburg (1760–1841), a German noblewoman known for her political influence during the French Revolution.
- During the French Revolution, the building was converted into a factory to produce saltpeter (potassium nitrate), a key component of gunpowder.
- After this, Marquis d'Hervas, a Spanish nobleman acquired the property before selling it in 1812 to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838), after whom the mansion was renamed. Talleyrand, who was a renowned French diplomat and statesman who served under multiple regimes, including Napoleon, used the mansion as his Parisian residence.
- The First French Empire, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, fell in April 1814. After Napoleon's abdication, Talleyrand hosted Tsar Alexander I at the Hôtel de Talleyrand-Périgord during the negotiations that led to the restoration of the royal family to the French throne. Significantly, the hotel also served as one of the key venues for the Congress of Vienna negotiations in 1814-1815, aimed at redesigning the map of Europe and restoring stability after the Napoleonic Wars.
- After Talleyrand died in 1838, the mansion was inherited by his niece, the Duchesse de Dino, who then sold it to Baron James-Mayer de Rothschild, a prominent banker and member of the Rothschild family. The family continued to own the mansion until 1950, during which time it served as a private residence and a venue for social gatherings.
- In 1950, the building was acquired by the United States government, and used by the U.S. State Department for the administration of the Marshall Plan, which aided Europe's recovery after World War II. The building, today known as the George C. Marshall Center, has been restored and is used for diplomatic functions and cultural events.
- The building is open to the public annually, during Heritage Days (Journées Européennes du Patrimoine), typically held in September. It is also occasionally open to the public for guided tours.