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Origin and history

The Hotel de Pompadour, also called Ermitage de Pompadour, is a private hotel built in 1749 in Fontainebleau, at the request of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, favorite of Louis XV. Located at No 3 Magenta Boulevard, it was built in only nine months by architects Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Louis-François Thourou de Moranzel and Jean Cailleteau, with interior decorations signed Alexis Peyrotte and Jacques Verberckt. The total cost of the works was 216,382 pounds, and the estate became a place of retirement for the Marquise until his death in 1764.

When Madame de Pompadour disappeared, the Ermitage passed to his brother, the Marquis de Marigny, who sold him to Louis XV. The king stayed there until 1774, before the place became the official residence of the governors of the Château de Fontainebleau, like the Marquis de Saint-Herem. During the Revolution, the estate was confiscated as a national property, sold to the municipality of Melun, then acquired by merchants and laymen before being bought in 1808 by Marshal Berthier.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Hôtel de Pompadour changed hands several times, sheltering personalities such as banker Michel Ephrussi or the couple of patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. The latter received major artists (Dalí, Cocteau, Picasso) and kept an exceptional collection of art, including works by Goya and Picasso. Today, the estate belongs to the Perrone family and remains a private property, not open to the public.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1947 for its facades, roofs, gardens and 18th-century decorations, the Hotel de Pompadour retains much of its original features. Its park, initially 4 hectares, was reduced to 2.5 hectares after urban changes. The architecture, inspired by Gabriel, prefigures the style of the Petit Trianon and bears witness to the influence of the Marquise on the art of his time.

The memoirs of the Duke of Luynes, contemporaries of construction, describe a square pavilion of 6 toises on the side, surrounded by communes, aviaries and carefully arranged gardens. The simple but elegant interiors included apartments for the Marquise and its guests, as well as outbuildings such as a dairy and hens. Despite subsequent transformations, the Hermitage remains a remarkable example of the rock architecture and the refined taste of Madame de Pompadour.

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