Hôtel Lambert

The Hôtel Lambert was designed by Louis Le Vau (1612–1670), one of the leading French architects of Baroque Classicism during the reign of Louis XIV. The residence was built between 1640 and 1644 for the financier Jean-Baptiste Lambert de Thorigny (d. 1644), who owned many stately homes.

The building bore no resemblance to hotels as we understand them today. It was built as a so-called ‘hôtel particulier’, that is, a luxurious residence intended to demonstrate the owner’s wealth and prestige. In Poland, the closest equivalent of such a building is a town palace.

The interiors of the Hôtel Lambert were adorned by famous designers and stucco artists of the time, such as Charles Le Brun, François Perrier and Eustache Le Sueur, creating one of the most innovative and iconographically coherent examples of decorative painting in mid-17th-century France. The frescoes and stucco work inside the building took almost five years to complete, resulting, amongst other things, in monumental and bold allegorical frescoes alluding to the myth of Heracles.

Some of the works of art that were originally housed at the Hôtel Lambert found their way into the royal collection and later to the Louvre, where they remain to this day. A particularly remarkable room was the Cabinet de l’Amour (Cabinet of Love), which in its original layout featured an alcove for a four-poster bed.

In the 1740s, the Marquise du Châtelet and her lover Voltaire used the Hôtel Lambert as their Parisian residence. The Marquise du Châtelet sold the building to Claude Dupin and his wife Louise-Marie, who continued the tradition of an intellectual, cultural and political salon there. The Dupins were relatives of the writer George Sand, who was a frequent guest at the residence. Her meetings with Frédéric Chopin in this building marked the beginning of the Polish chapter in the history of the Hôtel Lambert, which endured and helped shape the atmosphere of the place continuously for the next 130 years.

The Hôtel Lambert and its owners – the Czartoryski family

Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, known as the ‘uncrowned king of Poland’, purchased the property in 1842. Fryderyk Chopin and Eugène Delacroix were reportedly behind the scenes of the transaction, having persuaded Anna Sapieha, the prince’s wife, to make the purchase. Czartoryski could not refuse. As historian Rafał Habielski notes, the 4th arrondissement of Paris at that time was one of the worst neighbourhoods, so the buyer probably did not overpay for the residence.

The new owner, Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, was a prominent figure of his era. In his youth, he was associated with the Tsar’s court, acting as an advocate for reform and a supporter of Polish independence under the Romanovs. He held the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire and served as a personal adviser to Tsar Alexander I. During the Congress of Vienna in 1815, he became renowned as one of the architects of the Kingdom of Poland. During the November Uprising (1830–1831), he joined the insurgent authorities, serving, amongst other roles, as President of the National Government. As a senator, he signed the act of dethronement of Nicholas I Romanov, for which the Tsar sentenced him in absentia to death by beheading. After the fall of the uprising, Czartoryski fled to France, beginning the exile phase of his life.

Hôtel Lambert – a centre of Polish culture in Paris

The Parisian residence, the Hôtel Lambert, became a centre of Polish culture on the banks of the Seine, serving as the main hub of the Great Emigration and as the unofficial embassy of a Poland that no longer existed on the map. It was from here that the idea of Polish independence radiated, an idea that the tireless Adam Czartoryski ensured would not be forgotten by the rulers and peoples of the world at that time.

The Hôtel Lambert also served as a base for Polish intelligence, run by the prince’s trusted associate, Karol Sienkiewicz. As Adam Czartoryski’s personal secretary, Sienkiewicz oversaw a network of agents and informants operating in Europe and beyond. The Hôtel Lambert went down in history not only as a property, but also as a political stronghold campaigning for Poland’s liberation.

At the same time, the residence served as both a cultural salon and a debating club, hosting many distinguished Poles. Among those who frequented the place were Fryderyk Chopin (who composed his famous polonaise with the annual balls organised at the residence in mind), Cyprian Kamil Norwid (who, it is said, was never refused a glass of wine), Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Adam Mickiewicz, Zygmunt Krasiński and Józef Bem – to name but the most important. The Hôtel Lambert also hosted the international elite, including Eugène Delacroix, Honoré de Balzac and Franz Liszt. It is no exaggeration to say that this thoroughly Polish house was one of the leading intellectual salons of European society at the time.

The Hôtel Lambert and its successive owners

Following the prince’s death in 1861, the building remained in the hands of his heirs. At the turn of the century, the Hôtel Lambert was discreetly divided into several luxury flats for rent. It became home to influential and wealthy individuals, including Baron de Redé, who had been renting the ground floor of the building since 1947. De Redé spent time here with his lover, Arturo López-Willshaw, who was formally married. The parties hosted by de Redé and López-Willshaw were among the most celebrated in the whole of Paris. In 1969, de Redé hosted his most famous Bal Oriental here, attended by guests including Guy de Rothschild, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot and Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark.

In 1975, the Czartoryski heirs sold the Hôtel Lambert to Baron Guy de Rothschild, whose wife, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, was a close friend of Baron de Redé. At the time, it was one of the most famous transactions on the European property market. The sale price amounted to 6 million dollars at the time. In September 2007, the Hôtel Lambert changed hands once again, being sold to Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, the brother of the Emir of Qatar, for a reported sum of 80 million euros.

The building, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, required extensive renovation as parts of its timber structure had rotted. The new plan for the renovation and modernisation of the building (which included the installation of lifts and air conditioning, and the construction of an underground car park) sparked controversy and protests from historians and conservationists. One heritage expert remarked that the design evoked the “aesthetics of a James Bond villa”. A former resident, Michèle Morgan, an icon of French cinema, suggested that wealthy clients seeking a luxurious, modern, ‘bespoke’ residence should consider a larger plot on the outskirts of Paris rather than a historic site bordered on all sides by the Seine. However, Alain-Charles Perrot, the architect responsible for the project, suggested that the objections to the redevelopment had a racist undertone.

After several years of disputes, a settlement was reached between the owners, the Ministry of Culture and the Paris City Council, and the renovation was authorised under the supervision of Bâtiments de France – the conservation authority. Work began in 2010. Unfortunately, on 10 July 2013, part of the building was severely damaged by a fire that broke out on the roof whilst renovation work was underway. The bathroom, with its ceiling frescoes considered to be masterpieces, was completely destroyed during the fire brigade’s efforts to extinguish the blaze. The frescoes in the Hall of Hercules were also severely damaged.

Rumours circulated that in the 1970s the Czartoryski family had made the government of the People’s Republic of Poland a favourable offer to purchase the property. However, the offer was reportedly rejected. No documents have, however, been found to confirm that such discussions actually took place. It is a pity, as an embassy of the independent Republic of Poland at the Hôtel Lambert would have been the fulfilment of a great dream of Prince Adam Czartoryski.