Hôtel de Villemaré, Historical mansion in Place Vendôme, Paris, France.

The Hôtel de Villemaré is a former private mansion at 9 Place Vendôme, built of pale beige stone in a classical style. Its facade rises several storeys, divided into bays by pilasters and horizontal bands, with three rows of tall rectangular windows, round dormer windows in the dark slate roof, and a ground-level arcade of round arches holding shop windows, including Rolex signs and a blue glazed double door at the centre.

Built in the early 1700s as a residence for a wealthy financier, the mansion later received status as a historical monument. Over the centuries, ownership changed hands several times before it became a major commercial location on one of Paris's most sought-after addresses.

The mansion's name comes from financier Jean Bonaventure Le Lay de Villemaré, who bought the plot at no. 9 in 1708; it is also called hôtel de Joubert after Philippe-Laurent de Joubert, treasurer of the Languedoc Estates, who bought it in 1777. Under the Ancien Régime it housed the grand veneur de France, the officer in charge of royal hunts, from 1818.

The interior is not fully open to visitors, but you can view the classical facade and outer courtyard from Place Vendôme itself. Plan your visit during business hours to see the activity around the luxury shops and get a sense of the building's current use.

The Norwegian central bank bought the mansion in 2016 for one billion euros, and it now houses Jaeger-LeCoultre and Rolex boutiques. During the Commune in 1871, seals were placed on the apartments and the insurgents did not dare break them, so the building survived; they used the rest of it as a clothing store.