Hôtel de Verrières, Private mansion in Paris, France

The hôtel de Verrières is a historic private mansion in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, set at 43-47 rue d'Auteuil. Its oldest surviving element is a two-story facade facing a wooded garden, with a rounded pediment and a carved cartouche showing a young woman, flanked by two circular pavilions.

Built in 1715 for the singer Marie Antier, the house later held day-and-night feasts for Louis XV in 1744 and was bought in 1752 by the marquis Live d'Épinay. In the late 18th century, John Adams stayed here with his family before becoming president of the United States.

The house was once a salon where singers, actresses, and writers gathered for performances, and a small theater was even set up in the garden. Today, the carved face on the facade is still interpreted by local guides as a possible portrait of Marie Antier, the opera singer for whom the place was built.

Look for the house from the rue Michel-Ange side, where the original garden facade is easiest to see. The street-facing side on rue d'Auteuil was rebuilt, so crossing to the adjacent street gives a clearer sense of the older construction.

A widely repeated local story says the actress sisters who lived here in the 1750s had underground passages connecting the house to their garden theater. The carved terracotta above the facade shows two cupids leaning on a cartouche, a detail many passersby miss.