Hôtel de la Marine

The construction was led by Jacques-Germain Soufflot. Its two pediments contain allegories of Magnificence and Felicity by Guillaume II Coustou and Michel-Ange Slodtz.

The building originally belonged wholly to the Crown, at first being used by the Garde-Meuble, whose galleries were open to the public from 9 am to 1 pm on the first Tuesday of each month between Easter and All Saints' Day. It also housed a chapel, a library, workshops, stables and many apartments, including those of the intendant of the Garde-Meuble – at first Pierre Élisabeth de Fontanieu (1767–1784), then Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville-d'Avray (1784–1792).

When the government was forced to join Louis XVI in quitting Versailles and setting up in the palais des Tuileries, the secrétaire d'État à la Marine, César Henri de la Luzerne, was hosted at the Garde-Meuble by his cousin Thierry de Ville d'Avray. Thus, from 1789, it housed the naval ministry.[1] Led by Admiral Decrès, the ministry considerably expanded its offices until it occupied the whole building.

The magnificent interior decor by Jacques Gondouin, inspired by Piranesi, was an important step forward in 18th-century taste, but it was profoundly distorted by changes under the Second French Empire, although the grands salons d'apparat and the Galerie Dorée still maintain some of the original elements.

After the fall of France in June of 1940, the Kriegsmarine, the naval forces of Nazi Germany set up their headquarters here, which would remain in place up until the Kriegsmarine had to evacuate its presence in the city in light of the deteriorating strategic position in August of 1944.

The building housed the French naval staff until 2015, after which a program of renovation was begun.[1]