Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The building at the corner of Rembrandt and Murillo streets, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, was built in 1869 by architect Auguste Tronquois (1829–84). It is part of a part of the former Monceau madness park, built in the 18th century by the Duke of Chartres. Its U-shaped plan, with an open courtyard on Rue Murillo and a garden communicating with the park, reflects a spatial organization typical of Parisian private hotels, adapted to a report building.

Stylistically, the building blends brick and stone, freely inspired by the models of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in an eclectic character of the era. The semi-out-of-work staircase, a real centrepiece, is distinguished by its oval wooden cage, its hanging flights and a sumptuous neo-Renaissance decor: marquetry, false marbles, painted medallions and ornamental windows. The levels serve apartments maintaining their original distribution and decor, reflecting the bourgeois luxury of the Second Empire.

The construction is part of the urban project of the Pereire brothers, who distributed part of the Parc Monceau, a former aristocratic estate transformed into a public space in the 19th century. The vestibule and stairwell, classified in 2024, illustrate the heritage importance of this building, symbol of Parisian residential architecture under Napoleon III.

The building combines functionality (relationship building) and ostentation, with artistic references to Quattrocento and Antiquity, visible in Roman busts or carved guardrails. Its privileged location, bordering Monceau Park, makes it a remarkable example of the integration between historical heritage and Haussmannian urban development.

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