The Hôtel de Besenval () is a historic hôtel particulier in Paris, dating largely from the 18th century, with a cour d'honneur and a large English landscape garden, an architectural style commonly known as entre cour et jardin. This refers to a residence located between a front courtyard and a rear garden. The building is listed as a monument historique by decree of 20 October 1928 (the historic parts, reference: PA00088705). It has housed the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation and the residence of the Swiss ambassador to France since 1938. The residence is named after its most famous former owner: Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, usually just referred to as Baron de Besenval (the suffix Brunstatt refers to the former barony).Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 11Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Chapitre: Brunstatt devient une baronnie: Le 11 août 1726, Louis XV, roi de France, élève la terre de Brunstatt, propriété de la famille de Besenval, au rang de baronnie. Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, pp. 102–103Ministère de la Culture – Platforme ouverte du patrimoine : Hôtel de Besenval ou Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, monument historique PA00088705 – 1928/10/20, Website, 2026
Location
The premises, formerly known as the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, are located at 142 Rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, within the Faubourg Saint-Germain, west of the historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés area, opposite the Hôtel du Châtelet and close to the Hôtel des Invalides.
Les ors de la République – inherited from the monarchy The Faubourg Saint-Germain has long been known as the favourite area of the French nobility and is home to numerous aristocratic hôtels particuliers. Many of these residences later became foreign embassies or ambassadorial residences, as well as administrative headquarters of the city of Paris or seats of French ministries. This development was also a consequence of the French Revolution, during which many hôtels particuliers – with their large reception rooms, gilded panelling and exquisite decoration – were confiscated and converted into national institutions. The French expression Les ors de la République (the gilded splendour of the Republic), which refers to the luxurious environment of national palaces, official residences and institutions such as the Palais de l'Élysée, the Hôtel de Matignon and the Palais du Luxembourg, dates from this period. The Hôtel de Besenval was one of the few hôtels particuliers not to be confiscated, as its then owner, Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, was a Swiss citizen.Jean-Jacques de Dardel: L'hôtel de Besenval – siège de l'ambassade de Suisse en France, Labor et Fides, Genève, 2013, p. 84Wiktionnaire – Le dictionnaire libre: ors de la république, consulté le 27 décembre 2023Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 12
From the Marais to the Faubourg Saint-Germain In the early 18th century, the French nobility started to move from the Marais, the then aristocratic district of Paris where nobles used to build their hotels particuliers, to the clearer, less populated and less polluted Faubourg Saint-Germain; an area which soon became the new residential area of France's highest ranking nobility. Families like those of the Duc d'Estrées, the Duc du Châtelet or the Duc de Noirmoutier moved there. Their former residences still bear their names today. Therefore, the instinct of the early investors was right when they bought at the beginning of the 18th century their plots of land on what would soon become one of the best addresses in Paris: The Rue de Grenelle.
History
Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour
The origins of the Hôtel de Besenval go back to a single-storey residence, the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, erected from 1704 for a man of the Church: Pierre Hélie Chanac de Pompadour, Baron de Treignac, Abbé de Vigeois, Prieur de La Valette and Prévost d'Arnac (1623–1710). When the construction work began, the abbé was already in his eighties. It is believed that the abbé was a descendant of the family of Guillaume V de Chanac and Guillaume de Chanac, a supporter of the Collège de Chanac Pompadour in Paris.La famille Chanac et Le collège Chanac Pompadour ou St Michel de Paris. . Source: Michel Cassan: Le temps des guerres de religion. Le cas du Limousin (vers 1530 – vers 1630). Éditions Publisud, 1996, 463 p., 230 FGeneanet: Guillaume de Chanac, Fratrie avec Hélie de Chanac, Seigneur de Bourg-l'Archambault, Website, 2024
To build his new residence, the abbé purchased three plots of land on 10 May 1704 for a total of 14,872 livres and had them combined into a single large plot. On 9 December 1704, the abbé had the opportunity to buy two more plots of land for a total of 2,340 livres and add them to his property. For the design of his hôtel particulier the abbé commissioned the celebrated architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair. Delamair, in turn, commissioned the building contractor Guillaume Delavergne († 1710) on 4 June 1704, on behalf of the abbé, to carry out his plans for the new residence, with the total costs estimated at 31,000 livres. Additional costs of 11,953 livres and 7 sols were added later. This sum was set on 19 March 1710 by a commission of experts following a site visit, after relations among those involved in the construction had deteriorated due to financial disputes. At this time, the abbé had not yet taken up residence in his new house. Since he died six months later, it can be assumed that he never lived in his hôtel particulier on the Rue de Grenelle, or he only lived there for a very short time. This and the abbé's old age suggest that he did not have the town house built primarily for himself, but for his heirs. This is also indicated by the donation agreement of 13 March 1705 with the heirs, who were to pay the abbé an annual pension of 2,400 livres.Jean-Pierre Samoyault: L'Hôtel de Besenval – Ambassade de Suisse en France, Editions internationales du Patrimoine, Paris, 2017, pp. 20, 23 et 32
Pierre-Alexis Delamair was highly sought after at the time, and he was simultaneously involved in two other major building projects in Paris: The remodeling of the Hôtel de Clisson, also known as the Hôtel de Guise, for François de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, which subsequently became the Hôtel de Soubise, and the construction of the Hôtel de Rohan for Armand Gaston Maximilien, Prince de Rohan.Alain Stella: Historic Houses of Paris – Residences of the Ambassadors, Flammarion, Paris, 2010, p. 32
Pierre-Alexis Delamair's architectural one-off
The Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour is a notable feature in Delamair's work, as it is the only single-storey hôtel particulier he designed. As a result, its principal reception rooms (the piano nobile) are located on the ground floor – an arrangement that appears to have been rare among Parisian hôtels particuliers. With the Hôtel Chanac de Pompaodur, Delamair also set new standards in façade architecture. The sober, linear neoclassical façade was a novelty and a contrast to the ornate façades that had prevailed up to that point. Architects who later made changes to the building always respected Delamair's basic structure and design.Charles Lefeuve: Histoire de Paris – rue par rue, maison par maison, 5ème édition, tome IV, C. Reinwald et Cie, 15, rue des Saints-Pères, Paris, 1875, p. 89Fiske Kimball: The Creation of the Rococo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943, p. 93
In his book titled: Description de la ville de Paris et de tout ce qu'elle contient de plus remarquable (Description of the city of Paris and all the most remarkable things that it contains), first published in 1684 and expanded in later editions, Germain Brice describes the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour as a pleasant place. However, he also states: "Abbé Pierre Hélie Chanac de Pompadour built a house, ornamented with numerous statues and vases, disposed at various points [the free-standing statues and vases placed along the roof cornice]. Those who delight in profuse ornament will admire this; yet it is the judicious disposition of decoration that gives a building its beauty." But then Brice praises: "The state apartments enjoy an advantageous prospect, and the house, constructed in a relatively light manner, offers several conveniences that make the residence pleasant."Germain Brice: Description de la ville de Paris et de tout ce qu'elle contient de plus remarquable, Septième édition, tome troisième, revue & augmentée par l'auteur, chez François Fournier, Libraire, rue Saint-Jacques, aux Armes de la Ville, avec approbation & et privilège du Roy, Paris, 1717, p. 158
Although Jacques-François Blondel was not overly enthusiastic, he nevertheless found words of praise for the work of Pierre-Alexis Delamair in his 1752 publication on French architecture. In his widely acclaimed standard work Architecture Françoise (French Architecture), Blondel points out that at the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour the kitchen is no longer housed in the corps de logis but in a side wing to the left (west wing). An architectural arrangement that Blondel describes as an innovation. This architectural innovation had two pleasant side effects: On the one hand, it kept the kitchen odors away from the state apartments and, on the other hand, it reduced the risk of fire in the corps de logis. In addition to the kitchen, Delamair also combined the other utility rooms in the west wing, such as the servant's quarters. Furthermore, Blondel praises the generally clever room layout of the house, especially of the corps de logis, which he says can be traced back to the cleverly arranged enfilades. By this he means, on the one hand, the enfilade that connects the main entrance, the vestibule and the Sallon servant de Salle à manger and ultimately leads to the garden (south to north) and, on the other hand, the enfilade that connects the three state apartments, the Sallon servant de Salle à manger, the Chambre de parade, now called the Salon de la tapisserie, and the Grand cabinet, which was converted into a dining room in 1782, (west to east). The two enfilades intersect in the Sallon servant de Salle à manger, which is now called the Salon des perroquets. Around the basse-cour – the service courtyard lying to the east of the cour d'honneur – Delamair arranged the stables, the tack room, the coach houses and the hen house.Jacques-François Blondel: Architecture Françoise, ou recueil des plans, élévations, coupes et profiles des Eglises, Maisons Royales, Palais, & Edifices les plus considérables de Paris, ainsi que des Châteaux et Maisons de plaisance situés aux environs de cette ville, ou en d'autres endroits de la France, bâtis par les plus célèbres architectes, & mesurés exactement sur les lieux, tome premier, contenant une introduction à l'architecture, un abrégé historique de la ville de Paris, & la description des principaux édifices du Faubourg St. Germain, chapitre XII: Description de l'Hôtel de Pompadour, situé rue de Grenelle. Chez Charles-Antoine Jombert, Libraire du Roi pour le Génie & l'Artillerie, rue Dauphine, Paris, 1752, pp. 236–237
Despite all the recognition for the architectural innovations, Blondel also expresses criticism. For him, the façade decorations are not coordinated well enough. As for the garden façade, he finds it inexplicable why Delamair chose not to create an avant-corps with three arcade windows, just as he did when remodelling the Hôtel de Soubise. Blondel criticises: "The central trumeau is intolerable. The entire façade affords ample space for an avant-corps with three arcaded windows, which would have been more suitable than the two rounded French windows now in place."
A scandal – or L'affaire de Mademoiselle de Choiseul