Hôtel de Fontpertuis

Hôtel de Fontpertuis sits at 21 Place Vendôme in Paris, one of the most storied addresses in the city's 1st arrondissement.

Where exactly is it located?

The building occupies a corner plot linking Place Vendôme with Rue des Capucines, right in the heart of central Paris. Its coordinates, 48.8683, 2.3292, place it almost at the square's geometric center, surrounded by jewelers, fashion houses, and grand historic hotels — a neighborhood worth wandering through on foot on its own merits.

Who commissioned the mansion, and when?

The plot's story begins in the early eighteenth century. Jean-Baptiste Bullet de Chamblain, son of Pierre Bullet, the architect who laid out Place Vendôme itself, sold the land in 1718 to the Scottish financier John Law de Lauriston. Architect Jacques V Gabriel then raised the current building for him between 1718 and 1720. The facades and rooftops from that construction still stand today as a textbook example of Parisian classical architecture from the first quarter of the 1700s.

What changed during the nineteenth century?

Later renovation work, particularly visible on the Rue des Capucines side, layered nineteenth-century additions onto the structure. Since 1831, ownership has rested with Crédit Foncier de France, a French mortgage-lending institution, tying the mansion to a very different chapter of Parisian financial history.

Why does the address ring a bell for fashion lovers?

Number 21 Place Vendôme has long been synonymous with the house of Schiaparelli. Elsa Schiaparelli's fashion label occupied the premises from 1935 to 1954, then returned to the same address in 2012, where it remains today. That combination — an eighteenth-century aristocratic shell wrapped around a working haute couture house — gives the building its particular character.

Can visitors go inside?

Because the mansion still functions as a working address for a fashion house and financial interests, there's no ticketed public tour of the interior. Most visitors experience it from the square itself, taking in the pilastered facade and attic story while strolling around Place Vendôme.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hôtel de Fontpertuis actually a hotel for overnight stays? No. In this context, the French word "hôtel" refers to a private townhouse (hôtel particulier), not lodging — a naming convention common across Paris's grand seventeenth- and eighteenth-century residences.

Who occupies the building today? Since 2012, the Schiaparelli fashion house has operated from 21 Place Vendôme, while part of the property remains linked to Crédit Foncier de France, its owner since 1831.

What's the easiest way to reach it? Walking is simplest — Place Vendôme sits just minutes from both the Palais Garnier opera house and the Tuileries Gardens, making it an easy stop between the two.

What makes the architecture notable? The classical facade and roof, built between 1718 and 1720 under architect Jacques V Gabriel, are considered a model example of the period's style, despite later nineteenth-century alterations facing Rue des Capucines.