Hôtel de Massa, Neoclassical townhouse in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, France

The Hôtel de Massa is a two-storey neoclassical townhouse with a light beige ashlar facade. Five tall rectangular windows with white frames line the upper floor beneath a plain cornice and a slate roof with small dormers; the ground floor has a row of arched windows on the left and, on the right, an arched door with a white panel framed by a pediment and pilasters. Carved stone panels with garlands and wreaths sit between the floors.

Built between 1777 and 1778 by architect Jean-Baptiste Le Boursier, this building originally stood on the Champs-Élysées before being carefully dismantled and relocated to its current location in the 1920s. The complex relocation process moved it stone by stone across Paris.

The Société des Gens de Lettres uses these rooms as a gathering place for writers and literary professionals to meet and exchange ideas about their work. The building serves as an active center for the French literary community.

The building sits near the Paris Observatory gardens on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques in the fourteenth district. Access is available during specific cultural heritage events and festivals, so it helps to check ahead for opening dates.

In 1870 the Duke of Massa watched Prussian troops march down the Champs-Élysées, closed the shutters of the house and vowed to reopen them only on the day of revenge. His nephew reopened them on 14 July 1919, then closed them again the next day; the house stayed empty until 1926.