Hôtel Matignon

The Hôtel Matignon (French: Hôtel de Matignon, pronounced [otɛl d(ə) matiɲɔ̃]) is the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, at 57 Rue de Varenne. The name Matignon is often used as a metonym for the governmental action of the prime minister.

In 1649, as part of his plan for the construction of the Hôtel des Invalides, Louis XIV decided to restore the old "Chemin du Bois de la Garenne," which had become the "Rue de Varenne," that linked Saint-Germain-des-Prés, at the western end of Paris, with the marshy terrain chosen as the new building site. Henceforth the "Noble Faubourg" gained a new lease on life, the proximity of Versailles being irresistible for an aristocracy who lived exclusively by and for the Court.

On 30 September 1717, Christian-Louis de Montmorency Luxembourg, Prince of Tigny and Marshal of France, purchased, for the sum of 91 Livres, 2869 toises (30,000 m2) of land along the Rue de Varenne. He was a lover of gardens and intended to create a country park. In 1722, he commissioned a little-known architect, Jean Courtonne, to conceive and construct a mansion. His success in this endeavour won him entry to the Academy of Architecture, where he wrote a much-remarked Treatise on Perspectives (1725). But the expense of the enterprise forced the Prince of Tigny to sell, and it was Jacques Goyon, Count of Matignon who bought the Hôtel, completed in 1725, as a present for his son, the Duke of Valentinois.

Courtonne's design was highly original. Rising from a broad terrace, the main residence, a two-storey building crowned by a balustrade, comprises two suites of rooms. Access from the street is gained by a portico ornamented by columns. This archway reveals the main courtyard, bracketed by two low wings of offices and outbuildings, to the right of which are situated another courtyard, the stables and the kitchens. The façade is broken by three advances. Those to the right and left house the staircases, while the central pavilion displays a magnificent balcony sculpted with lion motifs. Visitors' admiration is drawn by two singular architectural features: the segmented cupola of the entrance hall and, to its right, the first room to have been originally designed for dining.

Text adapted from “Hôtel Matignon” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Hôtel Matignon ranks #276 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #31 of the 469 mapped in France. Founded 1722, it is older than 21% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 12,329 times in the last 60 days, more than 94% of the atlas. 37 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Paris, 2 km away. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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