The hôtel du Châtelet () is a ''

hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

'', a kind of large

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

of France, at 127, rue de Grenelle, in the 7th arrondissement, Paris. The building is now the home of the

Ministry of Labour A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...

and the minister’s official residence.

History

Hôtel du Châtelet was commissioned from Mathurin Cherpitel in 1770 by the Duke of Châtelet, and completed in 1776. After the duke was

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

d in 1793, the house was inscribed on the list of civil buildings, and it served from 1796 to 1807 as the headquarters of the

École nationale des ponts et chaussées École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; abbr. ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a ...

. From 1807 to 1830, it was attached to the Imperial, and later Royal, Household. Between 1830 and 1849, it served as the Turkish embassy, and then the Austrian embassy. In 1849,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

's government paid for renovations and gave the building to the

Archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created i ...

whose palace had burned down in 1831. From 1849 to 1905, the building's main body served as the archiepiscopal residence. Upon the

1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State (French language, French: ) was passed by the Chamber of Deputies (France), Chamber of Deputies on 3 July 1905. Enacted during the French Third Republic, Third Republic, it establishe ...

, the state took the building back, granting it in 1907 to what was then called the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. Following restoration in 1908, it became the headquarters of the ministry. In 1968, it was the site of the signature of the

Grenelle agreements The Grenelle Agreements () or Grenelle Reports were negotiated 25 and 26 May, during the crisis of May 1968 in France by the representative of the Pompidou government, the trade unions, and the . Among the negotiators were Jacques Chirac, then t ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Du Chatelet Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Châtelet Houses completed in 1776