Hôtel de Lauzun

The Hôtel de Lauzun stands as a rare survivor of seventeenth-century Parisian luxury. While many mansions from this period lost their original features to later renovations or the upheaval of the French Revolution, this building retains its authentic gilded wood, intricate wall paintings, and mirrored surfaces from the age of Louis the Fourteenth. The architect Charles Chamois designed the mansion in the late sixteen-fifties, choosing to place the main structure directly along the street to maximize views of the Seine, which departed from the standard layout of hiding such homes behind a private garden.