Hôtel de Villeroy, Private mansion in 7th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Hôtel de Villeroy is an 18th-century mansion at no. 78 rue de Varenne in Paris's 7th arrondissement. Its cream stone facade rises three storeys under a dark slate mansard roof with dormer windows and tall chimneys; the central bay carries a triangular pediment with carved relief and a long balcony with dark metal railing above three arched windows. The rusticated ground floor has a central glass double door reached by shallow stone steps.
Built between 1713 and 1724 by architect François Debias-Aubry for the Swiss banker Antoine Hogguer de Saint-Gall, baron de Presles, who gave it to his mistress, the Comédie-Française actress Charlotte Desmares. Sold in 1735 to François-Louis de Neufville de Villeroy, it was enlarged in 1746 with an oval salon by Jean-Baptiste Leroux. It became the seat of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1881 under President Jules Grévy.
The mansion houses a major government ministry today, making it a working seat of power in the neighborhood. This institutional role shapes how locals and visitors perceive the building and its importance to French governance.
The mansion stands at no. 78 rue de Varenne, a short walk from the Hôtel de Matignon on the same street. It is a working ministry and not open to the public, so visits are limited to the facade and cobbled courtyard seen from the street.
The wrought-iron handrail of the main staircase carries interlaced "L" motifs, a reference to the king. A barrel of Morat stands in an antechamber: oak from the Allier, born around 1660 and felled in 2004 because of disease.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,815 contributors worldwide.