Hôtel Lambert

The house, on an irregular site at the tip of the Île Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris, was designed by architect Louis Le Vau.

Both painters worked on the internal decoration for almost five years, producing the gallant allegories of Le Brun's grand Galerie d'Hercule (still in situ, but heavily damaged in the 2013 fire described below) and the small Cabinet des Muses, with five canvases by Le Sueur that were purchased for the royal collection (now in the Louvre) and the earlier ensemble, the Cabinet de l'Amour, which in its original configuration featured an alcove for a canopied bed upon which the lady of the house would receive visitors, according to the custom of the day.

[3] In the 1740s, the Marquise du Châtelet and Voltaire, her lover, used the Hôtel Lambert as their Paris residence when not at her country estate in Cirey.

He and his brother, Konstanty Adam, were leaders of the liberal aristocratic faction of the Great Emigration from Poland, following the collapse of the November Uprising of 1830–1831.

An Historical and Literary Society began in 1832 and the idea of a Polish library, which exists to this day just along the Quai d'Orleans nearby, was conceived in the Hôtel Lambert in 1838.

[n 1][4] De Redé entertained his lover Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900–1962), who continued to maintain a formal residence with wife Patricia in Neuilly.

A UNESCO World Heritage-listed building, it was in need of restoration, as parts of its wooden structure were rotting, staircases were sagging, and paint was cracked and discoloured.

The Prince's plan for a comprehensive overhaul of the building sparked controversy and became the subject of legal action brought by French conservationists.

[5] The scheme included plans to install air-conditioning, elevators, an underground car park with an exit through the notable curved garden wall, and a number of security measures.

[6] Former tenant Michèle Morgan suggested that super-rich clients wanting a tailor-made luxury modern residence should consider a larger site on the outskirts of Paris rather than a cramped position limited on all sides by the river Seine and listed monuments.

[7][n 2] After several years of wrangling, a truce was overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Paris City Hall, and the renovation was given the go-ahead under the supervision of Bâtiments de France, which safeguards historic monuments.