An hôtel particulier (French:[otɛlpaʁtikylje]ⓘ)[1] 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 street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing and, by the 18th century, would always be located entre cour et jardin – between the cour d'honneur (an entrance court) and the
garden behind.[2] There are hôtels particuliers in many large cities in
France.
Etymology and meaning
The word hôtel represents the
Old French "
hostel" from the Latin hospitālis "pertaining to guests", from hospes, a stranger, thus a guest.[3] The adjective particulier means "personal" or "private".
The English word hotel developed a more specific meaning as a commercial building accommodating travellers;
modern French also uses hôtel in this sense. For example, the
Hôtel de Crillon on the
Place de la Concorde was built as an hôtel particulier and is today a public hotel.
In French, an hôtel de ville or mairie is a
town hall and not a hotel. Other official bodies might give their name to the structure in which they maintained a seat: besides
Paris, several other French cities have an
Hôtel de Cluny, maintained by the
abbey of Cluny. The
Hôtel de Sens was built as the Paris residence of the
archbishop of Sens. The
Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris was a theatre, taking its name from the former Paris residence of the
Dukes of Burgundy on the site. The
Hôtel de la Marine, now a museum, took its name when it was the naval ministry building.
Hôtel-Dieu ("hostel of God") is the old name given to the principal
hospital in French towns (and those in
Quebec), such as the
Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune. The
Hôtel des Invalides in Paris retains its early sense of a hospital for war wounded.
Monographs have been published on some outstanding Parisian hôtels particuliers.
The classic photographic survey, now a rare book found only in large art libraries, is the series Les Vieux Hotels de Paris by J. Vacquer, published in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, which takes Paris quarter by quarter and which illustrates many hôtels particuliers that were demolished during the 20th century.
Blanc, Olivier, Hôtels particuliers de Paris (1998)
Caylux, Odile et al. Les Hôtels particuliers d'Arles (2000)
Coquery, Natacha, L’hôtel aristocratique. Le marché du luxe à Paris au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998
Courtin, Nicolas, L'Art d'habiter à Paris au XVIIe siècle : L'ameublement des hôtels particuliers, Paris, Faton, 2011
Cros, Philippe,Hôtels particuliers de France (2001)
Gady, Alexandre, LesHôtels particuliers de Paris, du Moyen-Âge à la Belle époque, Paris, Parigramme, 2007
Naudin, Jean-Baptiste et al., Hôtels particuliers de Paris: Visite privée (1999).
Papillault, Remi Les hôtels particuliers du XVIe siècle à Toulouse (Serie Memoires des pays d'Oc)
Favreau, Bertrand, Une promenade dans Bordeaux, les hôtels parlementaires, B550B, Mérignac, 2012,
ISBN978-2-95410-753-0.