Hôtel Alexandre, Private mansion in 8th arrondissement, France.
Hôtel Alexandre is a private mansion at 16 rue de la Ville-l'Évêque, built 1763–1766. Its courtyard facade has a ground-level order of four fluted columns on square bases framing three glazed doors, with round windows flanking them; a stone balustrade runs above. The garden facade has a colossal order of pilasters on a raised basement. A mansard roof with three dormer windows replaced the original rooftop terrace.
Étienne-Louis Boullée began designing the hôtel at age 35 for the financier André-Claude-Nicolas Alexandre; it was built from 1763 to 1766, making it his earliest project and his only surviving construction. Alexandre lived there from 1768 until his death in 1775. Later owners included the marquis de Collonge and Marshal Suchet, who held it from 1802 to 1818 and gave it his name. It was inscribed as a Monument historique on 4 November 1927.
The house carries the name of its first owner, the financier André-Claude-Nicolas Alexandre, who moved in in 1768 and died there in 1775; it is also called Hôtel Soult after Marshal Suchet, its owner from 1802 to 1818. Later occupants were the Sœurs de la Mère de Dieu and, from 1907, the Institut normal libre de la Madeleine. Today it holds the head office of Free.
The building forms part of a modern office complex located in the central Paris business district on rue de la Ville-l'Évêque. Public access is limited since it remains private property used as a corporate headquarters.
The building is the only surviving construction by Étienne-Louis Boullée, who began designing it at 35; it was his first major project. In 2001 it was built into the atrium of a contemporary office block by Delaage Tsiropoulos Architecture Carvunis Cholet, and it now houses the head office of Free.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,112 contributors worldwide.