The Hôtel de Brienne is an 18th-century French townhouse (''

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the Townhouse (Great Britain), 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 an ...

'') at 14

rue Saint-Dominique The Rue Saint-Dominique is a street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It was formerly known as Chemin de la Longue Raye (1355), Chemin des Treilles (1433), Chemin Herbu (des Moulins à Vent) (1523), Chemin de l'Oseraie (1527), Chemin du Port ( ...

in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''. The arrondissement, ca ...

. It serves as the official residence of the minister of defense. It was built in 1724 to the designs of the architect François Debias-Aubry for François Duret, a real estate entrepreneur, who was also president of the

Grand Conseil The term Grand Conseil () or Great Council refers two different institutions during the Ancien Régime in France. It also is the name of parliaments in several Swiss cantons. Ancien Régime France Part of the King's Council Starting in the 13th ...

. In 1726 Duret sold it to Françoise de Mailly (widow of

Louis Phélypeaux, Marquis de La Vrillière Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

), who allowed her son, Louis Phélypeaux, Count of Saint-Florentin to stay on the upper floor (''premier étage''). Françoise sold it to Louise-Elisabeth de Bourbon, Princesse de Conti in 1733, and it became known as the Hôtel de Conti. It was sold to Louis-Marie-Athanase of Loménie, Count of Brienne in 1776, when it acquired its current name. Laetizia Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother (Madame Mère), lived here during the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

, and

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

used it as his office at various times during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is currently occupied by the

French Ministry of the Armed Forces , native_name_a = , native_name_r = , type = Ministry , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , logo = Ministère des Armées.svg , logo_width = 150 , logo_caption = Official logot ...

.Gallet 1995, p. 172
Lehrer 2013, pp. 85–87
Gady 2008, p. 207. Gady states it was constructed in 1718.

History

The Hôtel de Brienne was constructed during the reign of

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

, in 1724; it was built by François Debias-Aubry for François Duret, the President of the ''

''. Duret was a friend of the Marquise de Prie, mistress of

Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (Louis Henri Joseph; 18 August 1692 – 27 January 1740), was a French nobleman and politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1723 to 1726. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a '' pr ...

(Prime minister of France and another Prince of the Blood). Duret had been ordered to construct it by Madame de Prie who was looking for a suitable residence in Paris. In 1726, the Duke of Bourbon lost favour at Versailles and was exiled to his residence at

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

. Following this change of events, the hotel was sold to the widowed Françoise de Mailly, wife of the dead marquis de La Vrillière. Madame de La Vrillière lived at Brienne till 1733 when it was sold to the sister of the disgraced Duke of Bourbon. Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, ''Dowager Princess of Conti'' bought the hôtel and had the interior designed by the then fashionable interior designer Nicolas Simonnet. The new hôtel was near the

Palais Bourbon The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the ''Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concor ...

, built by Louise Élisabeth's mother known as Madame la Duchesse Douairière. The hotel would be named after the Conti family till 1776, following death of the Dowager Princess in the previous year, when it was sold to the '' Comte de Briene''. It was from him that the present building takes its name. Monsieur de Brienne had bought the property from Louise Élisabeth's grandson

Louis François Joseph, Comte de La Marche Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

in late 1775, moving in the next year. Monsieur de Brienne was executed during

The Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

and the building was seized by revolutionaries making the building one of the central places of administration. Under that period it was known as the ''Commission du commerce et de l'approvisionnement''. In 1795, the property was returned to the widowed ''Comtesse de Brienne''. It was then sold to the wife of ''François Séguy'', a businessman related to the military. The building then underwent many changes under the direction of the architect Lavoyepierre. Victims of financial difficulties, the Séguy couple quickly separated from their new acquisition. In 1800, the ''hôtel'' awarded by a court to Joseph Lanfrey, who rent it to

Lucien Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (born Luciano Buonaparte; 21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 ...

, then

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, and

Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's brother. In 1802, Lucien Bonaparte, acquired the property and again had it redesigned. Three years later in 1805 he sold it to his mother

Maria Letizia Ramolino Maria-Letizia Buonaparte (née Ramolino; 24 August 1750 (or 1749) – 2 February 1836), known as Letizia Bonaparte, was a Corsican noblewoman, mother of Napoleon I of France. She became known as “” after the proclamation of the Empire. She ...

. That is why during the reign of Napoléon, the edifice became known as the ''le Palais de Madame, Mère de l'Empereur'' (the Palace of Madame, Emperor's Mother). Bought from ''Madame Mère'' by the state in 1817, the hôtel de Brienne became the home of the Ministry of War. In 1917, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Clémenceau then head of the French government, worked on the final victory within its walls.

, also worked in the ''hôtel''. First as the secretary of State in June 1940, then as the chief of the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

in August 1944 till January 1946. The building is still the home of the Minister of the Armed Forces.

Notes

Bibliography

* Gady, Alexandre (2008). ''Les Hôtels particuliers de Paris du Moyen Âge à la Belle Époque''. Paris: Parigramme. . * Gallet, Michel (1995). ''Les Architectes Parisiens du XVIIIe siècle : Dictionnaire biographique et critique'', "François Debias-Aubry", pp. 171–173. Paris: Mengès. . * Lehrer, Steven (2013). ''Wartime Sites in Paris''. New York: SF Tafel Publishers. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel De Conti

Conti Conti is an Italian surname. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 63.5% of all known bearers of the surname ''Conti'' were residents of Italy (frequency 1:756), 11.8% of the United States (1:24,071), 9.2% of Brazil (1:17,439), 6.3% of Argentina ...

House of Bourbon-Condé House of Bourbon-Conti House of Bonaparte Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Palaces in France Legislative buildings in Europe