Slide Show

The Chancellerie d'Orléans, also known as the Hôtel de Voyer d'Argenson, was a famed eighteenth-century hôtel particulier in Paris. It was designed by Germain Boffrand and decorated by Charles Antoine Coypel for the Duc d’Orléans and the Voyer d’Argenson family. From 1762 to 1770, additional decorative elements and artistic commissions were completed by Charles de Wailly, Pajou, Fragonard, Gouthière, Durameau, and Lagrenée. In the early twentieth century, the building was purchased by the Banque de France, which eventually received permission to demolish the structure. Fortunately, some of the most significant interiors were dismantled and stored in crates, as it turned out for nearly the next century. Nearly 15 years ago, WMF Europe initiated a project to bring this important suite of rooms back to public life. The discovery that the crates were safely stored and the decorations stable enabled an extraordinary conservation program to being. Now these rooms will be installed in the Hôtel do Rohan-Strasbourg, a building of similar dimensions, style, and period to the Chancellerie d'Orléans. These interiors have not been seen since 1920, but will soon provide enthusiasts of eighteenth-century French art with a new destination to discover their beauty.