Les Journées Européennes du Patrimoine: L'hôtel de Bourvallais

During European Heritage Days, we also visited L'hôtel de Bourvallais, one of the mansions on the nearby Place Vendôme, an elegant square built during the reign of Louis XIV.

A view of the Place Vendôme.  The Colonne Vendôme, topped by Napoleon I, is located in the center of the square.

L'hôtel de Bourvallais was built as an elegant private home in 1702 and soon became the property of Paul Poisson Bourvallais.  Bourvallais was one of Louis XIV's wealthy tax collectors.  Apparently, too much money stuck to Bourvallais' fingers.  He lost the property to the state and the mansion was assigned in 1719 to the king's chancellor.  Today, it is the office of French Minister of Justice, successor to the chancellor.  

Currently, the facade of L'hôtel de Bourvallais (pictured below) is being restored.  Typically, scaffolding is erected and then covered with an image of the building behind the scaffolding.  The image is so well rendered that it is sometimes hard to tell if it is a replica or the real thing.  Of course, when advertising is added, like the Louis Vuitton billboard below, you know that the image is merely a rendering that is covering scaffolding.  

 

The interior of L'hôtel de Bourvallais has already been restored to its original appearance.  

One of the elegant rooms is sometimes used for small dinners with visiting heads of state.

Marie-Chantal, who is a lawyer, adores all things related to the law ("loi").  So, she especially liked the gilded decoration pictured below.

The house has a large, lovely garden behind it.  The Ritz hotel is next door and its rooms overlook the garden.  

Thanks for visiting L'hôtel de Bourvallais with us.