Hôtel de Chabannes, Private mansion in the 4th arrondissement, Paris, France

The hôtel de Chabannes stands at 17 place des Vosges, on the west side of the square between the hôtels Marchand and Montbrun. Its red brick facade is crossed by horizontal and vertical bands of light stone, with alternating stone blocks framing the windows. Three large arched openings with plain stone surrounds occupy the lower section; above them, two rows of tall rectangular windows each have a dark metal railing across the lower half and a light stone border.

The house was built in the first quarter of the 17th century, when place des Vosges was laid out as a fashionable address for noble families. Its facade and roof gained legal protection in 1920, then the interior staircase in 1953 and the vaulted gallery in 1955.

The building carries two names: hôtel de Chabannes and hôtel de Flers, after owners who held it in turn. Its red-brick front with light stone bands and iron window railings faces the west side of place des Vosges, between the hôtels Marchand and Montbrun. The vaulted gallery, protected since 1955, is part of the ground-floor arcade that runs along the square.

You can see this building from the square and the surrounding arcades, but the interior is not open to visitors. A walk around place des Vosges gives the best view of the facade, and the flat, paved area makes it easy to approach on foot.

Although the house is often called hôtel de Chabannes, an earlier name, hôtel de Flers, points to a different chapter in its ownership. The official protections were added at three different times, suggesting that parts of the interior were valued and registered separately from the outer walls.