[2] This building soon became too small, but a new one could not be built until a 22,000 livre debt was repaid to the city by Charles, Duke of Guise.

[3] Nicolas Lespagnol, the city's lieutenant, laid the foundation stone for the new building on 18 June 1627.

The central section featured a square-headed doorway flanked by niches on the ground floor and a French door flanked by niches and fronted by a balcony on the first floor, all surmounted by a half-relief of King Louis XIII on horseback, supported by carved scrolls.

[7][8] The complex was expanded to a design by Nicolas Serrurier in the early 1820s to complete the quadrangle, with the pavilion facing Rue de Mars finally being in place by 1825.

[12] In February 1957, the former British Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, collapsed while making a speech in the building and died a few minutes later.