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Origin and history

The Petit Hôtel de Villars, located at 118 rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, is a private mansion whose main wing dates back to the 18th century. Originally conceived as an outbuilding of the Grand Hôtel de Villars (now town hall of the 7th), it was built around 1722 by Robert de Cotte for the Marshal of Villars, Duke and peer of France. The building reflects the architectural and social transformations of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, moving from a rural area to an aristocratic neighbourhood.

Purchased by the Marshal of Villars in 1710, the hotel undergoes major renovations, including the addition of a monumental portal by Germain Boffrand. After the death of Villars in 1734, the building changed owners several times, including the Duke of Brissac, who installed his collections there and transformed the garden into English. Seized during the Revolution, it houses ministers under the Executive Board before being returned to the Brissac family under the Restoration.

In the 19th century, the Petit Hotel de Villars became a worldly place under the impetus of the Cahen d'Anvers family, which organized salons and concerts. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1954 for its decorations (large Salon and Company Hall) and its architecture, it is now owned by the Association Sainte-Marie de Neuilly and houses a section of the Collège-lycée Paul Claudel-d的Hulst. Its history, closely linked to that of the Grand Hotel and the Town Hall of the 7th, makes it a rare testimony to the urban and social changes in Paris.

The main wing, the heart of the hotel, preserves traces of its common past with the town hall, like condemned doors. Its classic facades, decorated with Latin currencies celebrating the victory of Denain (1712), and its garden make it a remarkable example of a Parisian mansion. The successive renovations, notably those of Nicolas Bartaumieux (1849-1853), allowed this former dependency to become an autonomous hotel, preserved despite the transformations of the neighborhood.

The building, organised around a court of honor and a garden, illustrates the classic plan of hotels in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Its ground floor, modified to create a large Salon, and its upper floors, formerly reserved for domestic servants, testify to the adaptations linked to its changing status. Today, although closed to the public, there remains a place of education and a protected architectural heritage, symbolizing the aristocratic and bourgeois heritage of Paris.

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