Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Hotel Amelot de Gournay, also known as Hotel de Mortemart, is a mansion built in the early 18th century in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, at no 1 rue Saint-Dominique. Built by architect Germain Boffrand on land he had acquired in 1710, it was sold in 1713, still under construction, to diplomat Michel-Jean Amelot de Gournay. Its architecture is marked by an oval courtyard and a colossal pilaster façade, stylistic innovations for the period, designed to give an impression of monumentality despite the narrowness of the plot.

After the death of Michel Amelot, the hotel was acquired in 1745 by Christian Louis de Montmorency-Luxembourg, prince of Tingry, who also owned the nearby hotel of Matignon. In 1751 the Earl of Guerchy, an ambassador to London, bought the hotel and the adjacent Varengeville hotel. In 1768 he rented them to the family of Talleyrand-Périgord, allowing Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand to reside there briefly in 1775.

In the 19th century, the hotel changed ownership and names several times: Aguesseau Hotel in 1804, Haussonville Hotel in 1812, then passed into the hands of the Biencourt (1847), Hunolstein (1883), and finally Rochechouart-Mortemart by inheritance. In the 20th century, it was acquired by the Bank of Algeria in 1926, then allocated to the Pensioners Fund of the Bank of France after 1962. Today, it houses the Paraguayan embassy in its western wing, while its lounges are rented at the Latin American House.

Ranked a historic monument since 1928, the Hotel Amelot de Gournay illustrates the evolution of Parisian private hotels, combining diplomatic, architectural and heritage history. Its oval courtyard and its innovative façade make it an early example of the rock style, while its successive occupants reflect the networks of influence of the aristocracy and finance in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Future

He is now a member of the Latin American House. The western part is occupied by the Paraguayan embassy.

External links