Hôtel Thellusson

The Hôtel Thellusson was a luxurious hôtel particulier, built in 1778 by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux for Marie-Jeanne Girardot de Vermenoux (1736-1781), widow of the banker from Geneva Georges-Tobie de Thellusson (1728-1776).This hotel was situated at 30, rue de Provence, in an English garden between the rue de Provence and the rue de la Victoire. It opened on the rue de Provence with a huge portal with the shape of a triumphal arch, in antique Medicis style, in the axis of the rue Laffitte, at that time called the rue d'Artois. It was visible from the boulevard. Coaches entered the hôtel by a swept drive; there was also an exit in rue de la Victoire.The central hall was also circular. In the center was a rock and around it a colonnade.After her death in 1781, Mme Thelusson's eldest son, John Isaac de Thellusson Sorcy (1764-1828) completed the hotel. As they were Genevan nationals, the Thellusson kept ownership of the hotel during the Revolution, but they returned to it only in 1797.After the Thermidorian Reaction, there was a bal des victimes, a "victims' ball" in the hotel. It was reserved for people with a close parent guillotined during the Revolution.