The Chancery

The Chancery - Photo Department of State

The Embassy Chancery is housed in a government-owned building at 2, Avenue Gabriel on the northwest corner of the historic Place de la Concorde. Although a building was originally erected there in 1768, it was eventually torn down and construction on the Embassy’s main building began in 1931. In accordance with 18th-century French law, the building’s facade was designed to conform to those of other buildings on the Place de la Concorde.

The Chancery of the Embassy of the United States in Paris was the first embassy constructed by the U.S. Government to consolidate its foreign affairs agencies abroad.  It was, however, the last building to be constructed on the historic Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris.  In order to build the Chancery, the Foreign Service Buildings Commission, established by an act of Congress in 1926, purchased the property on the northwest corner in 1928.  Soon after, the Commission appointed the New York architectural firm of Delano and Aldrich to design a building in harmony with the architectural style originally conceived for this square by the architect of Louis XV, Jacques-Ange Gabriel.

Today, the Chancery faces the Avenue Gabriel and the gardens of the Champs-Elysées. To one side is the famous Hôtel de Crillon.  From the Ambassador's office, one can admire what is probably the most beautiful example of 18th Century French architecture, the Place de la Concorde, with statues representing France's great cities, fountains evoking Saint Peter's Square in Rome and twenty gilded columns holding lamps.

The four-story Chancery is neo-classical in style and balances the northwest corner of the Place de la Concorde. The base of the Chancery is in very hard Villebois-Montalieu stone from the Isère region. The walls are constructed of Anstrude stone with brick backing. This stone, from the Yonne region, was specially selected for durability and to match the color of the other buildings on the Place de la Concorde.