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Origin and history

The Trouard House is a Parisian mansion built in 1758 by architect Louis-François Trouard (1729-1794) for his father, Louis Trouard, an ordinary marbrier sculptor of the king. Located at 9 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière in the 9th arrondissement, it embodies a stylistic break with Louis XV, adopting a "greek" or pre-neoclassical style, rare in Paris at that time. The frieze of Greeks adorning its facade bears witness to this, making it an early example of the architectural research of its generation, alongside figures such as Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux or Charles De Wailly.

The Trouard family belonged to a dynasty of marble sculptors enriched in three generations, thanks to strategic alliances with other families in the neighborhood (Adam, Leprince). On the death of Louis Trouard in 1767, the house passed to his daughter Marie-Élisabeth and his son-in-law, Pierre Alexandre-François Dubois, engineer of bridges and carriageways, before being sold in 1813 to Jean Meignan. Rented in 1768 to the president of Mesnières, it also illustrates the social and economic networks of the Parisian elites of the Ancien Régime.

Louis-François Trouard built another house for his parents at 1 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière (1761-1762), now destroyed, while the house on the 11th street, acquired in 1740, reflected the real estate speculation that had transformed the neighborhood. Ranked a historic monument in 1927 for its façade and bas-reliefs of the Four Seasons, the Trouard House is one of the few preserved testimonies of this transitional style, a precursor of neoclassicism.

Its inscription in the title of historical monuments (19 October 1927) underlines its heritage value, both for its architecture and for its history linked to the social ascent of Parisian artisans. The site, served by the Bonne-Nouvelle metro station, remains a remarkable example of the evolution of artistic tastes and urban dynamics in the 18th century.

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