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Origin and history

The pension Belhomme was a complex of buildings located at 157-163, rue de Charonne, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Founded around 1765 by the carpenter Jacques Belhomme, it served first as a health home for the demented and old, welcoming patients from wealthy families. Philippe Pinel, pioneer of psychiatry, began his work on mental illnesses. This place became a symbol of the evolution of psychiatric care in the 18th century.

From 1793, during the French Revolution, the pension was requisitioned by the State to serve as a prison after the law of suspects was passed. Jacques Belhomme, taking advantage of the situation, housed wealthy prisoners there in exchange for large sums, transforming the establishment into a luxury prison. Famous prisoners include nobles, bankers, and personalities such as the Duchess of Gramont or the farmer-general Magon de La Balue, who is guillotined with his family. This mixture of madmen and rich prisoners created a scandal, leading to the arrest of Belhomme in 1794.

The buildings of the Belhomme Pension, including the adjacent Chabanese Hotel, were destroyed in 1972 despite their partial inscription in historical monuments. Today, only the park transformed into a Colbert Square remains, a public garden located at the back of a neoclassical pavilion used as a communal centre for social action for seniors. This site illustrates the disappearance of a historical heritage marked by contrasting uses, between medicine, corruption and Revolution.

The pension Belhomme inspired several cultural works, such as the film Caroline Chérie (1951) or the novel La Maison Belhomme (1984). It also appears in L'anglaise et le Duc (2001) d'Éric Rohmer, where the Duchess of Gramont and Châtelet are mentioned. These representations testify to the fascination for this place where medicine, power and intrigues crossed under the Terror.

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