The Hôtel Tubeuf or Hôtel Duret-de-Chevry is a ''

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

'' located at 8 Rue des Petits Champs in the

2nd arrondissement of Paris The 2nd arrondissement of Paris (''IIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''deuxième'' (second/the second). It is governed locally ...

. It was built in 1635 to the designs of the French architect Jean Thiriot for , president of the . It was unfinished, when in 1641 it was purchased by the financier Jacques Tubeuf, who sold it to

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...

in 1649. The latter expanded it and combined it with adjacent ''hôtels'', creating the Palais Mazarin, which in 1721 became the Bibliothèque du Roi (King's Library).Ayers 2004, pp. 57–58. The Hôtel Tubeuf is now part of the complex of buildings forming the Richelieu site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and was declared a '' monument historique'' in 1983. The Hôtel Tubeuf is a typical ''hôtel particulier'' with a central ''

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...

'' set between an entrance courtyard and a garden. The entrance courtyard is on the south side and was formerly enclosed on all sides. The street entrance seen today was constructed in the 18th century. The street facade as it existed in the 17th century can be seen in an engraving by Jean Marot. File:L'Architecture française (Marot) BnF RES-V-371 076r-f159 Palais Mazarin, Face (adjusted).jpg, Street front of the Hôtel Tubeuf in the 17th century, engraved by Jean Marot''Face du Palais Mazarin à Paris''
at Gallica; Deutsch 2015, pp. 459 (date of publication), 465 (cat. item 6; According to Deutsch 2015, p. 132, most of the engravings in the ''Grand Marot'' were created between 1649 and the early 1670s; also reproduced by Braham & Smith 1973, vol. 1, p. 224; vol. 2, plate 316. File:Hôtel Tubeuf seen from the rue des Petits-Champs, 19 March 2016.jpg, Street front in 2016 The Hôtel Tubeuf is one of the last and most splendid examples in Paris of brick-and-stone architecture (popular in France in the early 17th century). Brick-and-stone had already gone out of style at the time this ''hôtel'' was built, but was used at the request of Duret. The building reflects the architect's fondness for elaborate rustication, stone ''chaines'' and

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

, and uncommonly shaped

pediments Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedime ...

decorated in

low-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impres ...

. A garden gallery, designed by François Mansart ca. 1644–45, was later added to the Hôtel Tubeuf. Of Mansart's designs only the exterior, and not the interior, of the garden gallery survives in somewhat altered form, with crossed quivers and garlands typical of Mansart visible above the upper windows. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed at the Hôtel Tubeuf on 30 April 1803.Chappet et al. 2005, p. 307. The Hôtel Tubeuf now hosts the departments of prints and photographs (''Département des estampes et de la photographie'') and of maps and plans (''Département des cartes et plans'') of the French National Library. File:BnF - Richelieu - building on Vivienne courtyard.JPG, Garden gallery of the Hôtel Tubeuf File:Jardin du quadrillatère Richelieu, rue Vivienne.JPG, View of the garden side c. 1890 File:Plaque at Hôtel Tubeuf commemorating the Louisiana purchase, 2010-06-12 02.jpg, Plaque on the Hôtel Tubeuf commemorating the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty

Notes

Bibliography

* Ayers, Andrew (2004). ''The Architecture of Paris''. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. . * Babelon, Jean-Pierre (1996)
"Thiriot, Jean"
vol. 30, p. 734–735, in ''

The Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

'' (34 vols.), edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. . * Blunt, Anthony; Beresford, Richard (1999). ''Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700'', 5th edition. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. . * Braham, Allan; Smith, Peter (1973). ''François Mansart'', 2 volumes. London: A. Zwemmer. . * Chappet, Alain; Martin, Roger; Pigeard, Alain (2005). ''Le guide de Napoleon: 4000 lieux de mémoire pour revivre l'épopée''. Paris: Tallandier. . * Deutsch, Kristina (2015). ''Jean Marot : Un graveur d'architecture à l'époque de Louis XIV''. Berlin: De Gruyter. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Tubeuf Tubeuf Buildings and structures in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures completed in 1635 1635 establishments in France

See also

Notes

Bibliography