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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Carondelet, also named Hotel de Joursanvault-Mareilles or Hotel de Grignan, was built in 1670 for Philippe Emmanuel de Carondelet, Baron de Talan. Located at 17 Cardinale Street in Aix-en-Provence, it embodies the aristocratic architecture of the Great Century, with a sober facade decorated with Tuscan pilasters and a Louis XV style entrance door. Its interiors are home to sculptured woodwork, gilding and typical 18th-century gypsies, reflecting the refinement of its successive owners.

In the 18th century, the hotel passed into the hands of the Ruffo family of Bonneval de La Fare, who kept it despite the French Revolution. Returned to Giuseppe Isidoro, 2nd Marquis de La Fare – an officer of the navy and First Consul of Aix – he later housed his son Hilarion, Marshal de Camp, and then the law firm of his son-in-law, Lodoix de Gombert, a magistrate who had resigned for refusing an oath to Louis-Philippe I. Acquired by the Grignans in 1848, it was then passed on to the Joursanvault-Mareilles.

Partially listed as historical monuments (1987 for registration, 1990 for classification), the hotel protects its facades, roofs, interior decorations (lounges, alcove rooms, fireplaces) and its garden with fountain. Its architecture, combining classical austerity and rock ornamentation, reflects the evolution of tastes between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while illustrating the social history of the Provencal nobility.

The sources also mention architect Louis Cundier as a masterpiece, although his exact role is not detailed. The hotel, still located in the city centre, remains a remarkable example of Aixese heritage, linked to influential families in Provence and key episodes of local history, from the Old Regime to the monarchy of July.

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