The Hôtel Thellusson was a luxurious ''

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 ...

'' located in

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, built in 1778 by

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

for Marie-Jeanne Girardot de Vermenoux (1736–1781), the widow of , a Genevan banker.Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (ed.), ''Le Guide du Patrimoine.'' (Paris, Hachette) 1994, p. 405; G. Girod de l'Ain, ''Les Thellusson: histoire d'une famille du XIVe siècle à nos jours'', 1977. The house was situated at 30

rue de Provence The rue de Provence is a street located in the 8th and 9th Arrondissements of Paris. It begins at the rue du Faubourg Montmartre and ends at the rue de Rome . Only the short part of the street between rue du Havre and rue de Rome is in the 8th a ...

, in an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

between the rue de Provence and the

rue de la Victoire The rue de la Victoire is a street in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The former name of the street was "rue Chantereine", which means "singing frogs", after the many frogs in the area as the quarter was swampy. The street took the name "rue de l ...

. It opened on the rue de Provence with a large gate in the shape of a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

, in the "Medici style", at the end of the

rue Laffitte Rue Laffitte is a street in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, located near the Metro stations Richelieu - Drouot and Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. This street was created in 1771 between the Boulevard des Italiens and the Rue de Provence. Its original ...

, which at the time was called the rue d'Artois. The house was visible from the street at the end of a its drive. There was also a circular central courtyard, with a rock in the centre and a colonnade around the outside. After her death in 1781, Mme Thelusson's eldest son, John Isaac de Thellusson Sorcy (1764–1828) completed the house. As they were Swiss nationals, the Thellusson family kept ownership of the hotel during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, but they returned to it only in 1797. After the

Thermidorian Reaction The Thermidorian Reaction (french: Réaction thermidorienne or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term, in the historiography of the French Revolution, for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespie ...

, there was a "victims' ball" in the hotel, for people who had had a close relative guillotined during the Revolution. John Isaac sold the hotel in 1802 to the Prince

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

, who exchanged it in 1807 with

Napoleon Bonaparte 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 ...

for the Hôtel de l'Élysée, which was renamed the

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (french: Palais de l'Élysée; ) is the official residence of the President of the French Republic. Completed in 1722, it was built for nobleman and army officer Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, who had been appointed Gover ...

, as well as one million francs. Napoleon offered the house to Tsar Alexander Ist as the Russian Embassy in France. The tsar stayed there in 1818, and Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo, adviser of the tsar, organized prestigious balls and receptions in the hotel. The house was destroyed in 1826 when the rue Laffitte was extended to the rue de la Victoire.

Notes

Bibliography

* Gabriel Girod de l’Ain: ''Les Thellusson, Histoire d’une famille du XIVème siècle à nos jours''. Hérissey, Évreux 1977. *

Louis-Mayeul Chaudon Louis-Mayeul Chaudon (20 May 1737, Valensole – 28 May 1817, Mézin), was a French Benedictine biographer. Life After studying in the colleges of Marseille and Avignon, Chaudon decided to become an ecclesiastic, and was admitted to the order of ...

Antoine-François Delandine Antoine-François Delandine (5 March 1756 – 5 May 1820), was a French writer. Delandine was born in Lyon. A lawyer at the Parliament of Dijon and the Parliament of Paris, he had a brief political career during the French Revolution when he was ...

: ''Dictionnaire universel, historique, critique et bibliographique''. Paris 1810. * Émile Rivoire: ''Bibliographie historique de Genève au XVIIIème siècle''. Genf 1897. *

Herbert Lüthy Herbert Lüthy (1918-2002) was a Swiss historian and journalist. His book ''France Against Herself'', published in the mid-1950s, criticized French traditionalism. Life Born in Basel, Herbert Lüthy attended school in Glarus and St. Gallen. He t ...

: ''La banque protestante en France''. Paris 1959-1961.

External links

* *
Rue de Provence on the web site paris-pittoresque.com
*

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110530063221/http://217.128.39.98/wikiparis/index.php/Rue_de_Provence *
The hôtel Thelusson in a book "Description de Paris et de ses édifices" par J. G. Legrand, Paris, 1818
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Thellusson 9th arrondissement of Paris 18th century in Paris Thellusson Houses completed in 1778 Demolished buildings and structures in Paris 19th century in Paris Former buildings and structures in Paris Buildings and structures demolished in 1826