Louis Armand
Who was the owner of Hôtel de Nevers (left bank) from 1672 to 1685?
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 . The large north pavilion on the River Seine was a prominent landmark of its part of the Left Bank . The hôtel was demolished sometime between 1768 and 1771 . Hôtel de Nevers . In 1572 Louis Gonzaga , Duke of Nevers , purchased from the French king , Charles IX , the Grand Nesle , an old townhouse located just east of the Tour de Nesle on the Left Bank of Paris . Nevers had it reconstructed around 1580 , after which it became known as the Hôtel de Nevers . Although never completed , the new hôtel was greatly admired by contemporaries . Nevers secretary , Blaise de Vigenère , a distinguished antiquarian and art historian , wrote that the house had a vault , built by Italian workmen , which was more grand than the one at the Baths of Caracalla . Although De Vigenère likely overstated the size , it must have been very impressive and was an architectural feature that was new to Paris . The Hôtel de Nevers was a prominent early example in Paris of the brick-and-stone style developed in the Île-de-France in the middle of the 16th century . The large terminal pavilion on the river was similar in proportions to the Louvres Pavillon du Roi , readily visible , since it was almost directly north on the other side of the river . Although there is no documentation identifying the architect with certainty , the architectural historian David Thomson suggested Pierre Lescot or more likely Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau . Jean-Pierre Babelon agreed that Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau was probable , or possibly Thibaut Métezeau . The corps de logis was laid out perpendicular to the river with its entrance to the west and a garden to the east . Because of problems acquiring land to the south ( where the city wall of Philippe Auguste still stood ) , only the north terminal pavilion , the central pavilion and the wing connecting them were constructed . This is evident in a 1648 ( or earlier ) drawing by Israel Silvestre with a view from the west and a 1637 painting by Abraham de Verwer . Near the beginning of the 17th century , Claude Chastillon drew a view from the east , projecting how the completed hôtel would have looked . Hôtel de Guénégaud . The Hôtel de Nevers was purchased in 1646 by Henri de Guénégaud , who in 1643 , during the regency of Anne of Austria under her first minister , Cardinal Mazarin , had become Secretary of State of the Navy , as well as Secretary of State of several regions of France ( including Paris ) , the Maison du Roi , and ecclesiastical affairs . Guénégaud had the architect François Mansart remodel the Hôtel de Nevers in 1648–1652 , and it became the Hôtel de Guénégaud . The rue Guénégaud was created on the garden side of the hôtel . Mansart added additional wings on the entrance side , creating an entrance courtyard and a service courtyard to its south . His changes are clearly shown on the 1652 Gomboust map of Paris . The entrance façade , with a striking , rusticated porte-cochère , was engraved by Jean Marot . Hôtel de Conti . In 1669 , Henri de Guénégaud fell from favor and was replaced as Secretary of State by Jean-Baptiste Colbert . In 1670 Anne-Marie Martinozzi , Princesse de Conti , who was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin , exchanged her house on the Quai Malaquais , as well as her beautiful country house in Bouchet , for the Hôtel de Guénégaud . 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 . After Anne-Maries 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 fathers 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 latters 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 . Bibliography . - Babelon , Jean-Pierre ( 1991 ) . Demeures parisiennes sous Henri IV et Louis XIII . Paris : Hazan . . - Braham , Allan ; Smith , Peter ( 1973 ) . François Mansart . London : A . Zwemmer . . - Gady , Alexandre ( 2008 ) . Les Hôtels particuliers de Paris du Moyen Âge à la Belle Époque . Paris : Parigramme . . - Mauban , André ( 1944 ) . Jean Marot : Architecte et Graveur Parisien . Paris : Les Éditions dArt et dHistoire . . - Thomson , David ( 1984 ) . Renaissance Paris : Architecture and Growth 1475–1600 . Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press . ( paperback edition ) .