Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Coislin is a private hotel built in 1770 by architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel, as part of a royal project to frame Louis-XV Square (now Place de la Concorde). Sponsored by Marie-Anne de Mailly-Rubempré, Marquise de Coislin, he is part of a set of four private hotels built behind the western colonnade designed by Gabriel. This land was divided after the abandonment of the initial project to install the Mint Hotel, which was deemed too eccentric.

On 6 February 1778, the Hotel de Coislin became a major historic site, hosting the signing of the treaties of friendship and alliance between France and the United States. These agreements, negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee for the United States, and Conrad Alexandre Gérard for France, marked the official recognition by Louis XVI of American independence. A commemorative plaque on the façade recalls this event.

In the 19th century, the hotel will house literary figures such as Chateaubriand, a tenant between 1805 and 1807, then the Circle of Rue Royale, a bourgeois club. In 1868, twelve of its members placed for the painter James Tissot on the balcony of the hotel, a painting now preserved at the Musée d'Orsay. Transformed into offices in the 20th century, it was classified as a historical monument in 1923 for its facades and then in 1962 for its large living room.

The hotel's architecture, typical of neoclassicism, is distinguished by its portico with Corinthian columns and its carved pediment allegorizing the Progress of Trade. The building, symmetrical of the Hotel de Crillon, was restored in 2003 under the direction of Jean-Michel Wilmotte after its acquisition by foreign investors. An architectural replica exists in Philadelphia, including the Free Library.

The protected elements include the facades (classified in 1923) and the large living room on the first floor, decorated with old woodwork (classified in 1962). The hotel thus illustrates both the French-American diplomatic heritage and the evolution of the uses of Parisian private hotels, from aristocratic residences to professional spaces.

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