Hôtel de Massa

The Hôtel de Massa is a neoclassical building with symmetrical facades, tall windows, and carefully carved stone details that reflect 18th-century French craftsmanship. Its rooms are proportioned with balance and precision typical of that period.

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.

The Duke of Massa sealed the building's shutters during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and they remained closed for decades afterward. The shutters did not open again until July 14, 1918, coinciding with the end of World War One.