The Hôtel de Breteuil is a historic building in the

16th arrondissement The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de Tr ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France.

History

The

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

was built for

Henri Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Henri Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1848-1916) was a French aristocrat and politician. Early life Henri Le Tonnelier de Breteuil was born in 1848. He was the son of Alexandre Le Tonnelier, Marquis de Breteuil (son of Achille Le Tonnelier de Breteui ...

and his second wife. It was designed by architect

Ernest Sanson Ernest-Paul Sanson (Paris, 12 May 1836 – Paris, 15 January 1918) was a French architect trained in the Beaux-Arts manner. Sanson entered the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris at the age of eighteen, and followed the courses offered by Émile ...

, and its construction was completed in 1892. During the Christmastime of 1858, the hotel hosted a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

match between the American master

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was c ...

and

Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great internat ...

, part of Morphy's tour of Europe. Morphy won the match handily, and Anderssen thrice employed an unusual opening—with mixed results—which came to bear his name. The building was acquired by the Irish State for in . It has since been the home for the Irish Embassy in France.

Gallery

File:Entrance_to_the_Embassy_of_Ireland,_Paris.jpg, The

Coat of arms of Ireland ) , supporters = , compartment = , motto = , orders = , other_elements = , earlier_versions = , use = The harp is used on all Acts of Oireachtas; the seal of the President; the cover of Iri ...

is featured above the entrance to the Embassy. File:Ambassade d'Irlande en France.JPG

References

Houses completed in 1892 Breteuil Buildings and structures in the 16th arrondissement of Paris {{Paris-geo-stub