Hôtel de Monaco, Private mansion in Paris, France

Hôtel de Monaco is a neoclassical private mansion at 57 rue Saint-Dominique in Paris's 7th arrondissement, near the esplanade des Invalides. Its light beige stone facade has a projecting central portico on four plain columns framing three round-arched openings, with a carved entablature, a row of square-headed windows and a grey mansard roof with dormers above. Since 1938 it has housed the residence of the Polish ambassador to France.

The mansion was created by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart during a time when French architecture deliberately moved away from the more ornate styles of earlier periods. This period marked a fundamental shift in how Parisian houses were conceived and decorated.

Since 1938 the mansion has housed the residence of the Polish ambassador to France, so its rooms serve diplomatic receptions rather than private family life. The name comes from Marie-Catherine Brignole, separated wife of Prince Honoré III of Monaco, who bought the plot in 1773 and commissioned the building.

The mansion has housed the Polish ambassador's residence since 1938, so the interior is not open to the public; the facade at 57 rue Saint-Dominique can be seen from the street near the Invalides esplanade. Look for the four-column portico with three round-arched openings and the two black lanterns before it.

Brongniart died in 1813 before finishing the Palais Brongniart, the Paris stock exchange that bears his name. The Hôtel de Monaco, built from 1774 for Marie-Catherine Brignole, separated wife of Prince Honoré III of Monaco, was among his completed townhouse commissions, following the hôtels de Montesson and de Bondy.