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Origin and history

Hotel Bouhier de Lantenay is a private hotel built in Dijon in the second half of the eighteenth century. It replaces an old building, the Hotel de Brion, dating from the 17th century, where took place in 1638 the assassination of President Pierre Baillet by Philippe Giroux. This place, one of the largest non-religious properties in the city, was praised to the clergy and nobility elected before its destruction to give way to the new construction.

In 1756 Bénigne Bouhier, lord and brigadier of the King's armies, inherited a legacy enabling him to acquire the land. He entrusts the design to the Parisian architect Nicolas Lenoir, dit Le Romain, pupil of Blondel and freshly returned from Rome. The works, begun in 1756, progressed quickly: in 1760, the Blessed Sacrament was installed in the chapel, but Bénigne Bouhier died five weeks after moving in. His son, Bénigne Bouhier de Lantenay, completed the gate in 1760 and rented the hotel in apartments after his mother's death in 1770.

In 1781, the states of Burgundy bought the hotel for 150,000 livres in order to install the Intendance, previously housed in Saint-Bénigne Abbey. The architect Charles-Joseph Le Jolivet oversees the developments (1782–185) to adapt the premises to administrative and representative needs, despite tensions with intendant Feydeau de Brou. The coat of arms of the Bouhier, overtaking the gate, was replaced in 1788 by those of the province.

The Revolution abolished the Intendance in 1790, leaving the hotel unoccupied. It was used in turn as military storage, as a museum project for the Arts Commission, or as accommodation for Bonaparte in 1800. This visit consecrated its final assignment: a consular decree of 1800 made it the seat of the prefecture, formalized by a transfer to the department in 1811. Extensions (1899–12) have since been completed.

Ranked Historic Monument in 1925 (registration) and then 1937 (facades and roofs), the hotel combines neo-classicism with the administrative function. Its concave plan, inspired by Parisian hotels such as the Rohan-Soubise hotel, includes a body of houses framed by communes, a court of honor symmetrical of a garden to the west, and interiors organized around a vestibule with peristyle. The central forebody, once surmounted by a dome, and the wrought iron guardrails bear witness to the Roman influence of Lenoir.

Today the prefecture of Côte d'Or and Burgundy-Franche-Comté, the hotel retains its dual vocation: symbol of local power and major architectural heritage of Dijon, illustrating the urbanity of the Burgundy elites in the Enlightenment century.

Future

It serves as a prefecture in the Côte d'Or department and in the Burgundy region.

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