Built under the name of Bois-Gelin, around 1787, between the Hôtel d'Angennes to the west and the Hôtel de Jaucourt with its four Ionic columns, the old hotel is numbered almost invisibly (today 47 rue de Varenne), while it proudly bears its name engraved on the front of the beautiful portal. The noble air of the entrance is also marked by the architecture of the courtyard of honor at the front of the dwelling. Behind, below the terrace, the tranquil park, shaded by tall trees, is largely unobtrusive, as up to the confines of the Rue du Bac and the Rue de Babylone, there are only adjacent gardens separated, to justify the state of the premises, by small walls concealed under ivy.
Let yourself be guided and discover the riches that decorate the apartments: after climbing the luxurious marble staircase with its beautiful tapestries, and passing through the winter garden on the second floor, visitors arrive in front of the magnificent woodwork in the grand gallery, brought from the Château de Bercy when the Malon residence was abandoned without remission at the auction. The duc de Doudeauville entrusted the task of fitting the doors and windows to skilled craftsmen who, despite the necessities of installation, were able to respect the primitive style. Gold was then applied wherever taste demanded its use.
The oval boudoir, which occupies the corner of the same floor, is a charming room where the three golds blend harmoniously with the paintings. The furniture, the objets d'art, the thick carpets - everything, right down to the rich ceiling, satisfies the connoisseur's eye. Four country-style paintings blend their past tones with the precious luxury of this intimate room.
The small salon, which extends the previous one, is also in the same style, and its woodwork also comes from Bercy. The ornamentation of the panels covers the surfaces without overloading them; four canvases have been arranged to fill the gaps in the door tops.
The antique woodwork in the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville is a well-preserved and highly prized work of art. The copy on the walls of the vast gallery on the ground floor respects every detail of the original on the second floor. They are serious models of mid-eighteenth-century artistic joinery.
Sources :
Vacquier, Jules. Author. Les Vieux hôtels de Paris : [3e série] : le Faubourg Saint-Germain : tome 1er : [Hôtels de Clermont Tonnerre, d'Orsay, Chanac de Pompadour, de Charolais de Mortemart, Gouffier de Thoix, de Galliffet, de Villeroi, de La Rochefoucauld, Doudeauville, Samuel Bernard, Béthune-Sully, des Invalides] : exterior and interior decorations : historical and descriptive notes (4th ed.)