Hôtel Dubarry, Private mansion in Toulouse, France.

Hôtel Dubarry is a two-storey mansion on place Saint-Sernin, facing the basilica, now part of the Lycée Saint-Sernin. Its long facade combines pale stone with a brick ground floor and red brick window surrounds; six upper windows are framed in brick and stone above matching lower windows. A round relief medallion sits over the blue double door, beside a plaque reading "ANCELY SAINT SERNY".

Jean-Baptiste Dubarry bought land and buildings here, including the former mansion of Marshal Dejean de Roquemaure, on 11 February 1776, and had the block demolished to build a richly decorated mansion in 1777. Arrested as a suspect in 1793, he was guillotined on 17 January 1794. Benedictine nuns bought the house in 1817 and ran a girls' school in it; it became a lycée in 1884 and was restored in 1933.

The name recalls Jean-Baptiste Dubarry, who installed his mistress Jeanne Bécu as Louis XV's favourite by arranging her marriage to his brother Guillaume. The Benedictine nuns who bought the house in 1817 ran a girls' school here and had the mythological and gallant paintings masked or destroyed. The painted ceiling and walls of the grand salon survive, attributed to the Toulousain François-César Derôme.

The building now houses the Lycée Saint-Sernin school and is only accessible for educational purposes. Occasional heritage tours may be arranged through local authorities, so check ahead if you wish to visit.

The garden covered about an arpent and held a rockwork grotto cut into a fake mountain, guarded by a bear at its entrance. Elsewhere stood a mechanical abbot who stepped forward to open the door for visitors, a copy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's tomb, and a green cabinet watched over by tigers.