Hôtel de Nevers (left bank)

The Hôtel de Nevers, later the Hôtel de Guénégaud, then the Hôtel de Conti, was a French aristocratic townhouse (hôtel particulier), which was located on the Quai de Nevers (now the Quai de Conti), just east of the former Tour de Nesle on the site of the present day Hôtel des Monnaies in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Construction began in 1580 to the designs of an unknown architect for Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, although it was never completed as intended.[1] The hôtel was demolished sometime between 1753 and 1771.

For other uses, see Hôtel de Nevers (disambiguation), Hôtel de Guénégaud (disambiguation), and Hôtel de Conti (disambiguation).
The Hôtel de Nevers in 1646 as seen from the middle of the Pont Neuf (detail from an engraving by Stefano della Bella)

Hôtel de Guénégaud

The Hôtel de Nevers was purchased in 1646 by Henri de Guénégaud and transformed by the architect François Mansart into the Hôtel de Guénégaud in 1648–1652. The rue Guénégaud was created on the garden side of the hôtel.

Hôtel de Conti
The Hôtel de Conti on the Quai de Conti on the 1739 Turgot map of Paris

In 1660, Anne-Marie Martinozzi, Princesse de Conti, who was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, acquired a hôtel particulier on the Quai Malaquais on the Left Bank of the River Seine, only a short distance downstream from the Hôtel de Guénégaud. Her hôtel became known as the Hôtel de Conti, and two of her sons, Louis Armand de Bourbon (1661–1685) and François Louis de Bourbon (1664–1709), were born there. In 1670 she exchanged her house on the Quai Malaquais, as well as her beautiful country house in Bouchet, for the Hôtel de Guénégaud.[2] After the exchange, her old house on the Quai Malaquais became the Hôtel du Plessis-Guénégaud, and her new house became the Hôtel de Conti. The Quai de Nevers was renamed Quai de Conti.[3]

After Anne-Marie's death in 1672, the Hôtel de Conti on the Quai de Conti passed to her son Louis Armand, who had become the Prince of Conti after his father's death in 1666. When Louis Armand died in 1685, he had no descendants, so the title and the house passed to his brother François-Louis de Bourbon. The latter's son, Louis Armand II de Bourbon, inherited the title and the house after his father died in 1709, and after his death in 1727, both were inherited by his son, Louis François de Bourbon. The latter sold it along with adjacent property in 1749 to form the site of a proposed new Hôtel de Ville, a project that was later abandoned. It was used as a garde-meuble (a place for the storage of furniture) for the king until 1768, when authorization was given to build the new Monnaie, for which the first stone was laid in 1771.[4]

References
  1. Braham and Smith 1973, p. 238, state Louis de Gonzague, Duc de Nevers, acquired the land in 1572 and had the hôtel constructed, but it was not completed. [Louis de Gonzague died in 1595.] Gady 2008, p. 309 "Conti (grand hôtel de)", states construction began in 1580 for Charles de Gonzague, Duc de Nevers, but remained incomplete. [Charles de Gonzague, the son of Louis, was born in 1580.] Neither source identifies an architect.
  2. Gady 2015, p. 314; Mauban 1944, p. 286.
  3. Braham and Smith 1973, pp. 238–239; Gady 2015, p. 314; Mauban 1944, p. 286.
  4. Braham and Smith 1973, p. 239. Gady 2008, p. 309, states the hôtel was acquired by the king and destroyed in 1753.

Sources
  • Braham, Allan; Smith, Peter (1973). François Mansart. London: A. Zwemmer. ISBN 978-0-302-02251-1.
  • Gady, Alexandre (2008). Les Hôtels particuliers de Paris du Moyen Âge à la Belle Époque. Paris: Parigramme. ISBN 9782840962137.
  • Mauban, André (1944). Jean Marot: Architecte et Graveur Parisien. Paris: Les Éditions d'Art et d'Histoire. OCLC 7057275.

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