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Origin and history

The former hospice of La Rochefoucauld, located 15 avenue du Général-Leclerc in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, is a neo-classical architectural complex in the shape of U, built mainly in the 18th century. Founded in 1780 under the name of the Royal House of Health with the support of Louis XVI, it was intended to accommodate sick and resourceless military and clergymen. Its initial funding was provided by the Viscountess Anne Rosalie Chauvelin de La Rochefoucauld, while the architect Jacques-Denis Antoine, known for the Hôtel de la Monnaie, drew up the plans, partially made before being completed by Charles-François Viel de Saint-Maux.

During the Revolution, the establishment was renamed the Montrouge National Hospital, and received only 23 residents in 1789. His income came from vegetable gardens, mills and quarries attached to the estate. In 1821 he took the name of La Rochefoucauld's hospice and became a hospital run by the Public Assistance in 1849. In the 19th century, the main building, on one floor with fitted attic, was completed by a left wing housing a chapel and infirmaries. The spaces were organized by gender: valid men in the centre, women on the left, and common services on the right.

The site includes a look at Saux (n°25), an element of the 17th century Medici aqueduct that fed the hospice with water, inspired by the mausoleum of Cyrus. Ranked a historic monument in 1928 for its facades, then in 1994 and 2004 for its commons and aqueduct, the hospital closed in 2019. It served as a temporary shelter for isolated women (2019-2022), then as a police station during work. The gardens, once vast, were reduced by the Sceaux line (1895) and the construction of the Hôtel des Postes in 1907.

Jean-Baptiste Dumangin (1744-1826), the chief physician of Charity, was the first doctor of the establishment in 1782. Under the Terror, he took part in the temple tower in 1795 to treat Louis XVII, at the request of the General Safety Committee. His gratuitous commitment to hospices, attested by revolutionary certificates, illustrates the charitable role of these institutions. The architecture, although partially realized, reflects the humanistic ideal of the Lights, mixing functionality and neo-classical aesthetics.

Today, the former hospice is distinguished by its rear façade visible from Avenue René-Coty and its integration into the Parisian urban landscape. Close to the Hell Barrier and Montsouris Park, it shows the evolution of hospital care, from the Old Regime to modern medicine. Its history with the Medici aqueduct and the transformations of the district (metro Mouton-Duvernet) makes it a medical, architectural and social heritage.

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