Hôtel de Sully

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Hôtel de Sully, rue Saint-Antoine, Paris
Detail of the decoration

The Hôtel de Sully is a hôtel particulier, or private mansion, in the Louis XIII style, located in Le Marais, IV arrondissement, Paris. It is located at 62 rue Saint-Antoine.

History

The financier Mesme Gallet built the hôtel, with gardens and an orangery, between 1625 and 1630. The building was designed by the architect Jean Androuet du Cerceau. The site was chosen to give access to the Place Royale - today the Place des Vosges - and was located in the Marais, at the time a fashionable district of Paris.

Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, former Superintendent of Finances to King Henri IV, purchased it on 23 February 1634. He completed the decoration of the hôtel, and spent his last years living there. His grandson Maximilien commissioned the architect François Le Vau (younger brother of the more famous French architect Louis Le Vau) to build an additional wing in 1660, to the west of the garden. The Hôtel de Sully still bears the name of this family, who owned the building into the 18th century.

The hôtel then passed through the hands of various owners, becoming an investment property in the 19th century. Various additions and alterations were made, to accommodate trades, craftsmen and other tenants. In 1862 it was classified as a monument historique, and new owners, more concerned with conservation, gradually restored the building. It became a state-owned property in 1944. A long restoration programme was then undertaken, which was completed with the repair of the Orangery in 1973.

Since 1967 it has been the home of the Caisse nationale des monuments historiques et des sites, which in 2000 became the Centre des monuments nationaux. This public body, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, is responsible for the management of historic buildings and monuments in state care.

References

External links

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