Hallwyll, a pretty rare townhouse, by Ledoux

A nice town house, located in a narrow street... In this street used to live, in the 18th century, very rich families with brilliant careers. Famous architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux raised the house in 1766: a big name, who created Neoclassicism style: a very sober style, with Greek and Roman inspirations. Ionic, Doric and Corinthian orders came back.

Ledoux raised Bénouville castle (Calvados), the salt-pan of Arc-et-Senans (Doubs), the barrière du Trône near the place de la Nation (Paris)... But most of his buildings (raised in Paris near Chaussée-d’Antin's district) were destroyed in the 19th century... bad luck!

This one is also known as Hallwyll house, but in the past they called it hôtel de Bouligneux. Bank Thélusson (with Swiss Isaac de Thélusson and Jacques Necker) rented it in the 18th century.

Necker’s daughter was born in this house in 1766: she was the famous writer madame de Staël!

Then, the house fell to Franz-Joseph d’Hallwyll, Swiss Guards' colonel, who put Ledoux in charge of the reconstruction. We have here two courtyards: the second houses a little grotto with a trompe l’oeil decoration on the wall.