Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Chanaleilles, built around 1770 by the Marquis de Barbençon, is an iconic 18th-century Parisian mansion. Originally, it was a "madness", a low and elongated marina, surrounded by gardens extending to the Rue de Babylon and Boulevard des Invalides. The main entrance was at 186 rue de Babylon. At the end of the reign of Louis XVI, the property was thoroughly redesigned, with marked interior and exterior modifications.

At the Revolution, the hotel was confiscated as a national property and sold. It was acquired by a lottery won by an old provincial lady, before being sold to Paul Barras, a political figure of the time. In 1799, the financier Gabriel Julien Ouvrard offered him to Thérésia de Cabarrus, princess of Chimay (ex-Mme Tallien), of whom he was fond. She held a great reception, welcoming up to 80 guests. The interiors were then transformed, notably with the addition of a peristyle with colonnades and a circular bathroom in black marble, one of the oldest in Paris.

In 1840, the hotel became the property of the Marquis de Chanaleilles, whose name it took. In the 20th century, the shipowner Stavros Niarchos acquired it in 1956 and undertook major restoration work. A modern wing was added in the 1960s, while interior decorations, such as woodwork and marquetry floors, were preserved or restored. Today, the hotel combines classified historical elements, such as facades, roofs, and old woodwork, with more recent additions.

The gardens, recreated to regain their original level, are organized in French and surrounded by green treillaged walls. The ground floor, partially buried after the floods of 1907, is home to sumptuous salons such as the white living room with gables, the bedroom with bas-reliefs, and the large red living room with Corinthian columns. These spaces reflect the refined tastes of successive owners, combining Regency styles, Management Board and modern restorations.

Among the remarkable elements are the antique cabinet, decorated by Emilio Terry with ebony columns and bronze capitals, as well as the boudoir with white woodwork from the Palais Paar in Vienna, where Marie-Antoinette married by proxy. The floor of the vestibule, decorated with a rosette in marble marquetry, and the exotic wooden parquet floors of the yellow gallery illustrate the luxury of interior furnishings.

Partially listed as historical monuments since 1945, the Hôtel de Chanaleilles embodies the evolution of Parisian aristocratic homes, of the Enlightenment in contemporary times, while preserving traces of its revolutionary and worldly past.

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