Hôtel Lambert

The Hôtel Lambert sits on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, identifiable by the private garden terrace that drops directly down to the Seine. Louis Le Vau designed this mansion in the seventeenth century for a royal financier, positioning the structure to frame the river rather than the street. When the Polish royal family later moved in, they transformed the house into a center for exiled artists. Chopin played his nocturnes here while Delacroix covered the ceiling of the gallery in gold and velvet.