Hôtel de Bourvallais

The Hôtel de Bourvallais, also known as the Hôtel de la Grande-Chancellerie, is a historic building on the Place Vendôme in Paris's 1st arrondissement. Built between 1699 and 1702, it originally served as a private residence for the Marquis Joseph-Guillaume de La Vieuville. After changing hands several times, the property passed to the French state in 1718, when its then owner, Paul Poisson de Bourvallais, was convicted of financial irregularities. Since then, the building has housed the French Ministry of Justice. Architecturally, it is joined with the neighboring buildings, including what is now the Ritz Paris. Inside is the minister's office, which originally served as the royal library and is one of the few rooms that escaped a fire in 1793. The room looks out onto a long garden with rose-lined walkways and a pond. The building has been classified as a historic monument since 1982 and was additionally entered in the register of historic monuments in 1991.