U.S. and France
Historic Places
7th Arrondissement
2, rue de Bellechasse
Palais de la Légion d’Honneur, formerly Hôtel de Salm
This building, which was being built when Thomas Jefferson arrived in France in 1784, was to have a powerful influence on American architecture. In March 1787, Jefferson wrote that he was “violently smitten” with it. He also wrote to French architect Pierre L’Enfant, who later designed the Federal City of Washington, that the two fronts of the Hôtel de Salm were among those “celebrated fronts of modern buildings” which might serve as models for America. Jefferson himself used much of the Hôtel de Salm’s influence to design his residence in Monticello. Early in the 19th century, the Hôtel de Salm was acquired by the Legion of Honour, and the names and portraits of those who have received this decoration are displayed in the museum.
21, rue de l'Université
Albert Gallatin arrived in Paris in March 1816 and found a suitable residence in the very street where Franklin had lodged forty years before. In 1921, this building was the hotel of the Duke de la Salle de Rocheinaure, and in 1927 it was occupied by a department of the U.S. Ministry of Finance.
8th Arrondissement
8, rue d’Anjou
La Fayette lived in the second floor apartment of this house from 1827 until his death in 1834. It bears the inscription: “General La Fayette, defender of liberty in America, one of the founders of liberty in France, born on September 6, 1757 at the Château de Chavagnac in Auvergne, died in this house on May 20, 1834.”
89, rue de la Boétie
Two Ministers Plenipotentiary lived in that part of the rue de la Pépinière which has now become the rue de la Boétie : in 1841 General Cass lived at the former number 89 and in 1860 Charles J. Faulkner at the former number 49.
92, avenue des Champs-Elysées
Hôtel de Langeac
This was Thomas Jefferson's residence from 1785 to 1789.
Thomas Jefferson moved here when he was officially appointed Ambassador to France in 1785. Jefferson arrived in France when it was still a monarchy and witnessed the beginning of the French Revolution. His prestige was such that he was invited to sit on the National Assembly committee which was drafting a constitution.
68, rue Pierre Charron
The Passport Bureau of the Consulate was established here after World War I, as the increase in the volume of passport work was such that it could not be handled at the old offices in the rue des Italiens.
4, Place de la Concorde
Hôtel de Coislin
In this building on February 6th 1778, Conrad A. Gerard, in the name of Louis XVI, King of France, and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee on behalf of the United States, signed the Treaties of Friendship, Commerce and Alliance by which France recognized the independence of the United States. This treaty provided mutual military support and eternal peace between the two countries. The plaque honoring Benjamin Franklin can still be seen at the corner of rue Royale. The text of the plaque reads as follows :
In this building, on February 6, 1778, Conrad A. Gérard, in the name of Louis XVI, king of France, Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, Arthur Lee on behalf of the United States, signed the Treaties of Frienship, Commerce and Alliance by which France, first of all nations, recognized the independence of the United States.
5, rue François 1er
Ambassador White's residence, later used by Ambassador Bacon and Herrick. During World War I, it was the headquarters of the American Relief Clearing House founded by Myron T. Herrick to co-ordinate the efforts of American charitable F/A Associations : this organization forwarded provisions and donations to the French public during World War I.
59, rue de Galilée
The offices of the U.S. Embassy on the Place des Etats-Unis were not retained for long, for when Minister McLaine arrived in Paris in 1885 new premises were sought. The lease of the old offices of the Legation at 95, rue de Chaillot, where Minister Washburne had established them twenty years before, was still held, but being woefully inadequate, the premises had been sublet. It was not easy to find new premises on the meagre $800 per annum which the American Government allowed its representative for the purpose.
Comfortable and new quarters were at length found in the quarter where the Legation had been situated for many years, at the corner of the Avenue Marceau and the rue Galilée.
35, avenue Hoche
Two Ministers Plenipotentiary lived here : Whitelaw Reid in 1890-1891; Coolidge in 1892. It was the old mansion of the Countess de Gramont, whose father had been French Consul- General in Egypt, and it contained many remarkable Egyptian antiquities which were not at all to the taste of the American Ministers.
19, rue Lavoisier
This was the sixth house inhabited by General Cass and it was used by several Ministers and Chargés d'Affaires subsequently: in 1843 by Henry Ledyard, from 1844 to 1845 by William R. King.