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Origin and history

The hotel of Aumont, located on Rue de Jouy in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, originally occupies in the 15th century a property named Le Dé, belonging to the Cousinot family, Parisian magistrates. The land was acquired in 1619 by Michel-Antoine Scarron, adviser to the king and uncle of the poet Paul Scarron, who judged the existing building to be obsolete and had it demolished to build the current hotel. The plans were entrusted to François Mansart, and the construction, begun in 1631, was completed around 1649-1650 under the direction of master mason Michel Villedo. At that time, the Marais was a booming aristocratic neighbourhood, attracting noble and bourgeois families.

In 1648, Antoine d'Aumont de Rochebaron, son-in-law of Michel-Antoine Scarron, inherited the hotel after the latter's death in 1655. He made it remodel and enlarge, with interior decorations signed Charles Le Brun and Simon Vouet, while André Le Nôtre probably drew the French garden. The hotel remained in the Aumont family until 1756, housing four generations of dukes. After that date, he changed hands several times: bought by entrepreneurs like Charles Sandrie, then by Pierre Terray, attorney general, before being sold in 1795 by his heirs.

In the 19th century, the Hôtel d'Aumont was used in a variety of ways: it housed the town hall of the 9th arrondissement (1802-1824), followed by interns of the Lycée Charlemagne (1824-1859). In 1859, the Central Pharmacy of France acquired and transformed it radically, removing the garden to build hangars and converting the salons into offices. It was only in 1938 that the Seine department bought it back to restore it. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1946, it was finally renovated in 1959 by architects Michel Roux-Spitz and Paul Tournon to host the Paris Administrative Court.

A landmark episode of her recent history occurred in 2003, when the remains of Merovingian Queen Aregonde, preserved since the 1970s in a strong wardrobe of the hotel, were rediscovered. These remains were placed there by Michel Fleury, Vice-President of the Old Paris Commission, illustrating the sometimes unsuspecting role of historical monuments in preserving the archaeological heritage.

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