Hôtel de Rochechouart, Private mansion in 7th arrondissement, France

The Hôtel de Rochechouart stands at 110 rue de Grenelle, its cour facade in ashlar alternating bays with fluted pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals. The garden front has nine bays, three projecting sections and a wrought-iron balcony on the first floor, around a plane tree planted at the time of construction. Inside, the stair hall holds three statues installed in 1846: Laplace, Colbert and Molé.

Architect Mathurin Cherpitel designed this mansion in the second half of the 18th century as a residence for a wealthy family. It later became the headquarters of the Ministry of National Education, which continues to use it for administrative purposes today.

The mansion's rooms carry names tied to its users: the Salon Julie-Victoire Daubié honours the first woman to pass the baccalauréat, in August 1861, and the Salon Alechinsky holds five panels on the tree theme painted by Pierre Alechinsky in 1992. The library, fitted out in 1858, keeps a complete set of the Journal officiel.

The building is located on Rue de Grenelle and is not freely open to the public since it operates as an administrative center. Visitors should check in advance whether special openings or guided tours are available for viewing the interior.

In the basements of the ministry is a bunker built during the Second World War, and the building also keeps carved stone fragments from the Palais des Tuileries. The garden of 1,300 square metres is laid out around a large plane tree planted when the mansion was built.