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Origin and history

The Hotel de la Princesse Mathilde is a private hotel located at 10 rue de Courcelles, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Built in 1812 by architect Bernard Poyet, it was built on a land belonging to the financier Jacques-Louis-Guillaume Bouret de Vézelay (1733-1801), treasurer general of artillery and real estate speculator under the Ancien Régime. This land, linked to the history of Rue de Vézelay, became the setting for an aristocratic residence in the heart of the capital.

In 1818, the hotel passed into the hands of the Marquis d'Aversens, before being acquired in 1842 by Auguste Taigny, father of Edmond Taigny. From 1849 to 1857, he was rented to Princess Mathilde (1820-1904), Napoleon III's cousin, after his divorce with Count Anatole Demidoff. The princess held sumptuous receptions there, a ballroom specially arranged in the garden to welcome the Prince President, future Napoleon III. This place became a symbol of the fascists of the Second Empire and the political ties of its time.

In the 20th century, the hotel changed hands again: it belonged first to General Charles Hitchcock Sherrill, American ambassador to Constantinople (1909-1910), who gave brilliant receptions until his death in 1936. Subsequently, he was acquired by Baron Elijah de Rothschild and his wife Liliane Fould-Springer in the 1970s after their departure from Masseran Hotel. Ranked a historic monument in 1975 for its facades and roofs, the hotel today embodies the architectural and social heritage of 19th century Paris.

The inscription in the title of historical monuments, effective since 4 June 1975, protects the facades and roofs of the building. This status underlines its heritage importance, linked to its neoclassical architecture and its turbulent history, where French aristocracy, international diplomacy and high finance crossed. The hotel remains a testimony of the social and political transformations of Paris, from the First Empire to the Fifth Republic.

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