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Origin and history

The Hotel de Dreux-Brézé, also known as Petit hôtel de Verrue, is a mansion built in the 18th century in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, at 1 rue du Regard. It was built on land acquired in 1696 by the Carmes community on Rue de Vaugirard, as part of a vast real estate operation involving five private hotels. The original plans, commissioned in 1719 by architect Victor-Thierry Dailly, were partially realized before being interrupted by the bankruptcy of Law. The construction was completed only in 1737, under the direction of Brice Le Chauve, who slightly modified the original plans.

Originally, the hotel was intended for the Countess of Verrue, daughter of the Duke of Luynes and Anne de Rohan, but she died in 1736 before her completion. The Carmelites then rented the Petit Hôtel de Verrue to Thomas de Dreux-Brézé (1677-1749), Grand Maître des Ceremonies de France. His descendants kept the place until the Revolution. In 1791, the Ternisian family acquired the hotel from the Paris Commune, before it was bought in 1822 by Dr. Joseph Récamier (1774-1852). The hotel remains today the property of the descendants of the latter.

The piercing of Raspail Boulevard in 1907 radically transformed the hotel: its garden was destroyed to give way to the new way, and the old facade on garden found itself in a bias on the boulevard. Unlike other nearby hotels, such as the one in Verrue, completely demolished, the house body was preserved. Blocks of connecting stone, visible at the ends of the adjoining buildings, suggest an initial intention for never-finished reconstruction. Since 1926, the street gate and the boulevard façade have been listed as historical monuments.

The Hotel de Dreux-Brézé thus illustrates the urban evolution of Paris, between preservation of the aristocratic heritage and adaptations imposed by the major Haussmannian works. Its history also reflects the political and social upheavals, from the Old Regime to the Revolution, to 18th century real estate speculations.

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