Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The hotel of Roquelaure, located at 246 boulevard Saint-Germain in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, was built at the beginning of the 18th century as an urban residence for Antoine-Gaston de Roquelaure, Marshal of France. Its architecture, attributed to Pierre Cailleteau or his son Jean, is part of the nobiliary construction movement of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which was then booming. The land, formerly agricultural and floodable, belonged to the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés before hosting a modest construction destroyed during the Wars of Religion.

Built in 1709 by Roquelaure, the hotel was rebuilt between 1722 and the 1730s by incorporating pre-existing elements, such as the Villetanuse hotel. The final project, between courtyard and garden, reflects the aristocratic codes of the time: double house bodies, stables, and common organized to preserve privacy. The facade on the garden, larger than the one on the courtyard, illustrates the adaptation to the constraints of the ground. Upon the death of Roquelaure in 1738, the hotel passed to its heirs before being sold in 1740 to Mathieu-François Molé, President of the Paris Parliament.

Under Molé, the hotel loses its worldly character to become a political place, even welcoming the Spanish ambassador. The French Revolution marked a turning point: confiscated in 1794 as a national property, it was attributed to the Commission d'Agriculture et des Arts before being returned to the Molé family. In 1808, Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, archchancelier of Napoleon, made it an imperial palace, organizing there fascinations. He also joined the Hôtel de Lesdiguières-Sully and renovated the interiors to make it a showcase of power.

In the 19th century, the hotel changed hands several times: sold to the Duchess of Orleans in 1821, it was exchanged in 1832 for part of the forest of Bondy. In 1839, it housed the Ministry of Public Works, marked by major transformations under Felix Duban, such as the destruction of stables to enlarge the offices. In 1861-1866, the wings of the court were raised, and the opening of Saint-Germain Boulevard in 1880 altered the façade. Ranked a historic monument in 1961, it has hosted since 2007 the cabinet of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

The nearby hotel, Le Play Hotel (40 rue du Bac), built in the 1860s, was annexed to the ministry in 1947. It now serves as a seat for various state secretariats. The ensemble illustrates the re-appropriation of Parisian private hotels by republican institutions, inheriting their aristocratic prestige to embody modern power.

Future

Formerly the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Works, it currently houses the ministerial cabinet of the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition.

External links