Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Sully, located at 62 rue Saint-Antoine in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, is an iconic Louis XIII mansion, built between 1625 and 1630. It is part of the apogee of the great aristocratic construction sites of the Marais, a neighbourhood then popular with the nobility for its residences. Its architecture, marked by an ornamental profusion inspired by the Renaissance, makes it one of the most accomplished houses of this period, with a characteristic U-plan, a unique courtyard and a central staircase leading to the garden.

The project was initiated in 1624 by Mesme Gallet, financial controller, who bought the land and launched the construction, attributed to the architect Jean Androuet du Cerceau. Ruined by the game, Gallet sold the unfinished hotel in 1627 to Jean Habert de Montmagny, who quickly sold it to Roland de Neufbourg. The latter finished the work in 1630, before Maximilian of Bethune, Duke of Sully and former councillor of Henry IV, nsen became owner in 1634. Although he did not live there, the Duke made interior adjustments and left his name to him. The Sully family kept the hotel until 1752.

In the 17th century, the second Duke of Sully enlarged the hotel westward, with works probably led by François Le Vau, preserving architectural homogeneity. After the Revolution, the building changed hands and in the 19th century welcomed the Special School of Business (now ESCP Business School), and then a school for girls. Divided into apartments and shops, it undergoes modifications, such as filling the terrace above the gate.

In the 20th century, Countess Martine de Béhague began her restoration in the 1920s, but her death in 1939 interrupted the project. The French state acquired the hotel in 1944 and led a restoration campaign (1945-1974) to restore its original configuration, eliminating the additions of the 19th century. Since 1967, it has been home to the National Monuments Centre and has hosted photographic exhibitions for the Ministry of Culture between 1994 and 2010.

The architecture of the Sully hotel combines Renaissance tradition and 17th century innovations. Its main entrance, at 62 rue Saint-Antoine, overlooks a single courtyard lined with commons, while a parron adorned with sphinges leads to the garden. The richly carved facades combine allegorical bas-reliefs, curvilinear frontons and ostentatious architectural orders. The central staircase, located in the entrance axis, illustrates the maneristic taste of the era, as well as the distribution of the rooms and the decoration of the windows, where are repeated patterns of female heads, shells and foliage.

Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1862, Sully's hotel testifies to the evolution of Parisian private hotels, from aristocratic residence to cultural place. Its history reflects the social and urban upheavals of Paris, from the seventeenth century to the present, while maintaining a remarkable stylistic unity.

Future

The hotel has been the headquarters of the National Monuments Centre since 1967.

External links