Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Villette is a 17th century Parisian mansion located at 27 Quai Voltaire and 1 rue de Beaune, in the 7th arrondissement. It is distinguished by its architecture and its location at the corner of two streets, served by public transport (metro line 12, RER C). The building, originally acquired by the financier Jacques de Vassan in 1636, was sold the same year to the developer Le Barbier. Its history is marked by major transformations and rich interior decoration.

Between 1766 and 1769, under the property of the Marquis de Villette, the architect Charles De Wailly completely revived the hotel, adding lounges and a boudoir with sumptuous decors. These spaces, as well as the facade and doors, are protected by several inscriptions to historical monuments (1926, 1958, 1983). The hotel also preserves traces of the Resistance during the Second World War, with a commemorative plaque for members of the North Liberation, including Henri Ribière.

In the 18th century, the hotel consists of two buildings: one overlooking the Seine, the other receding on a courtyard. It includes emblematic rooms such as a large living room, a cabinet decorated with zodiac signs, and a bedroom where Voltaire stayed. He died there in 1778, an event marked by a plaque and a stop at his funeral procession in 1791. In the 19th century, changes partially altered its structure (disappearance of the stone staircase and a cochère door), but the door of the rue de Beaune, decorated with neo-classical motifs (sphinx, claws), remained.

His famous residents include, in addition to Voltaire, the inspector of careers Octave Keller (late 19th century), the prefect Ferdinand Duval (died 1896), and the architect Louis Süe, who established his agency there in 1912. More recently, the lawyer Jacques Vergès died there in 2013, in the same room as Voltaire, at the marquise Marie-Christine de Solages.

The Hotel de Villette illustrates the evolution of Parisian private hotels, combining architectural heritage, literary history and resistant memory. Its interior decorations, partially accessible via photographic archives (Musée Carnavalet, Paris Museums), make it a rare testimony of 18th century art.

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