Hôtel de Massa

The neoclassical hotel was built between 1777 and 1778 by architect Jean-Baptiste Le Boursier for Thiroux de Montsauge, financial receiver-general and minister of finance.

The building was donated to the state in 1928 on condition that it be destined to the Société des gens de lettres (SGDL), then led by Édouard Estaunié, to which it was leased for the symbolic price of 1 franc.

The state, in the person of Édouard Herriot, then minister of public instruction and fine arts,[1] offered a portion of the garden of the Observatory of Paris upon which the hotel would be relocated.

The SGDL brought to this location memorabilia of varied origin and pedigree (portraits, busts and autographs) representing almost 170 years of literature.

It was at his instigation, in 1838, following his celebrated Lettre aux écrivains français du XIXe siècle (1834), that the SGDL now housed in the hotel was founded.

Hôtel Thiroux de Montsauge (original site), photograph by Eugène Atget (1906)