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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel du Plessis-Bellière, also known as Hotel Pastoret, is a private hotel located at No 6 of Place de la Concorde in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It has been part of the Automobile Club de France since 1901 with the Cartier Hotel adjoining. Its construction is part of the urban project of Louis XV, which entrusted the architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel with the realization of two symmetrical facades surrounding Rue Royale. The western façade, originally planned to house the Mint Hotel, was eventually divided into four lots allocated to individuals, including that of No. 6.

The Hotel du Plessis-Bellière was built in 1776 for David-Étienne Rouillé de l'Étang, treasurer-general of the police's moneys and king's secretary-counsellor. The architect Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux designed the hotel, behind Gabriel's colonnade, for Rouillé de l'Étang and his mother, Marguerite Perrinet. The latter, anointed by the purchase of a royal office in 1765, later became knight of the Empire under Napoleon. When he died in 1811, the hotel passed to his niece, Adelaide Anne Louise Piscatory de Vaufreland, wife of Emmanuel Pastoret, Chancellor of France under the Restoration.

In the 19th century, the hotel changed hands several times within the Pastoret family, then the Marquis of the Plessis-Bellière by alliance. In 1890, the last heiress, Marie de Pastoret, marquise du Plessis-Bellière, bequeathed the hotel to Pope Leo XIII to make it the apostolic nunciature. This will, disputed by his family and the state, led to a series of auctions in 1897 and 1898, dispersing the original decor. The facade, the only part classified as a historical monument since 1923, was preserved.

Since 1901, the hotel has been owned by the Automobile Club de France, which occupies it with the adjacent Cartier Hotel. An architectural replica of these buildings, including the Plessis-Bellière hotel, was built in Philadelphia by Horace Trumbauer and Julian Abele. Today, it houses the Free Library of Philadelphia, demonstrating the lasting influence of this French neo-classical model.

The hotel illustrates the evolution of Parisian private hotels, moving from 18th century aristocratic residences to institutional or cultural uses. Its history also reflects the political and social upheavals from the Revolution to the Third Republic, marked by property changes and inheritance conflicts.

Future

The hotel is, with the Cartier Hotel, the seat of the Automobile Club de France.

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