Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Ferraris hotel is a classic style mansion located 29 rue du Haut-Bourgeois in Nancy, built in the early eighteenth century by architect Germain Boffrand. Commanded by Louis de Ferraris, chamberlain of the Emperor of Austria and State Councillor of Duke Leopold I of Lorraine, he illustrates the integration of the Italian nobility into the Lorrainen aristocracy. The coat of arms of the Ferraris and Fontette families, visible on the sets, underline this alliance.

The architecture of Boffrand plays with a trapezoidal space, masking the asymmetries by an ordered facade with central forebody. The inner courtyard, adorned with a Neptune fountain classified in 1927, and the Italian staircase with the eye trompe-l'oeil by Giacomo Barilli (student of Bibiena) bear witness to Baroque influences. The 18th-century glazes coexist with early 19th-century neoclassical decorations, such as the golden stuccos attributed to Joseph Beunat.

Ranked as a Historic Monument in 2008, the hotel now houses the service of the General Inventory of Cultural Heritage of the DRAC Grand Est. The Neptune Fountain, initially surrounded by sculptures that disappeared after 1918, and the trompe-l'oeil paintings evoking nymphs recall its original fascist. The stairway, with its ramp inspired by Jean Lamour but prior to his creations, and the living rooms enfilade keep their old parquet floors (points of Hungary and Versailles).

The Ferraris family, originally from Lombardy, moved to Nancy in the service of the Dukes of Lorraine. Louis de Ferraris (1685–1733) married Anne-Thérèse de Fontette in 1715, linking her destiny to the local nobility. Their son, Joseph de Ferraris, became a renowned cartographer in the Austrian Netherlands. The hotel, left by the family around 1754, embodies the artistic and political heritage of this pivotal period between Baroque and Lumières.

The interior decorations reflect two epochs: woodwork prioritised according to Parisian usage (antechamber and parlour lounge) alongside neoclassical friezes and fireplaces. The large living room, decorated with golden stucco attributed to Beunat, and the loggia on the second floor, painted in grey by Barilli, illustrate this stylistic superposition. The imperial eagle added under the Empire to the ceiling of the staircase recalls the adaptations of the building to successive regimes.

Future

It is currently the seat of the Inventory of historical monuments of the DRAC of Lorraine.

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