Hôtel de Toulouse

The Hôtel de Toulouse, former Hôtel de La Vrillière, was built around 1640 by François Mansart, for Louis Phélipeaux de La Vrillière.

From 1712, it was the Paris residence of Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse, (duc de Penthièvre (1697) and duc de Rambouillet (1711), both until his death in 1737), the third son of Louis XIV and his mistress, the marquise de Montespan.

After the comte de Toulouse's death, it became the Paris residence of his son Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, and was the birthplace of the duc's daughter and eventual heiress, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre. At her death in 1821, the vast Bourbon-Penthièvre family wealth was inherited by her son, Louis-Philippe I, King of the French.

The hôtel was redesigned in 1712 by Robert de Cotte, "Premier Architecte du Roi".

Situated on the rue de La Vrillière, it faces toward the Palais Royal. Today, its main building is the seat of the Banque de France. The entrance façade looks out toward the Place des Victoires, which coincidentally was built by Toulouse's father, Louis XIV. Originally, the house had a large garden with a formal parterre to the southwest.

Trivia

The Hôtel de Toulouse was the site of a scene from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006 film) with its famous "Galerie dorée" (built as the "Grande Galerie" by the comte) as a room in a palace of her youth. Other films, both French, shot at the site are Vatel and "Tous les matins du monde".

Gallery of Residences

External links

* (fr) [http://www.balado.fr/balades/banque-france balado : Banque de France]
* (fr) [http://www.lexpansion.com/economie/la-galerie-doree_21149.html La galerie dorée]