Hôtel de Gramont

Hôtel de Gramont stands on Place Vendôme in Paris, a former private mansion now folded into the facade of the Ritz.

What exactly is the Hôtel de Gramont, and where do you find it?

The building sits at number 15, Place Vendôme, right in the 1st arrondissement, a short walk from the Tuileries gardens and rue de la Paix. Despite the word "hôtel" in its name, this was never a hotel in the modern sense — it's a hôtel particulier, the term for a grand private townhouse built for French nobility. Its coordinates place it at roughly 48.868, 2.329, on the western side of the octagonal square, right next to the Vendôme column.

Three centuries of ownership: how the mansion took shape

A commission for the Gramont family

Construction ran from 1708 to 1710, designed by architect Pierre Bullet, one of the key figures behind the layout of Place Vendôme itself. The plot was formally bought through a proxy acting for Jeanne Baillet de La Cour, but the building took its lasting name from her daughter Anne, who married Duke Charles IV de Gramont.

A string of owners through the 18th and 19th centuries

The Duchess de Gramont sold the property in 1721 to François de Gelas de Voisin, Count of Lautrec, who remained in residence for three decades. By 1803 the mansion had passed to a notary named Louis Léger, who in turn leased it out — first to the banker Delarue, then to Duke Louis-Joseph de Caumont La Force.

Fire during the Commune, and a rebuild

The most dramatic chapter came in 1871: fighting during the Paris Commune left the mansion burned to its shell, with only the facade surviving intact. Reconstruction followed almost immediately, completed by 1872.

Becoming part of the Ritz

The turning point arrived at the close of the 19th century. Between 1897 and 1898, Swiss hotelier César Ritz bought the Hôtel de Gramont and merged it with the neighboring Hôtel Crozat at number 17, creating a single property — the Ritz Paris as it's known today. From that point the two buildings' histories run as one, forming what became one of the most recognized addresses in luxury hospitality worldwide. More recently, the complex was owned by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed from 1979 until 2023.

What else is worth seeing nearby?

Place Vendôme itself is an octagonal square lined with 18th-century facades that now house some of the world's most prestigious jewelry houses, including Chaumet, Boucheron, and Cartier. At its center rises the Vendôme column, commemorating Napoleon's military campaigns. From here it's an easy walk to the Tuileries gardens, the Opéra Garnier, and the boutiques along rue Saint-Honoré, making the square a natural stop on any walk through elegant central Paris.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors tour the Hôtel de Gramont as a standalone site? No — the building is fully integrated into the Ritz Paris complex today, functioning as part of the working hotel rather than a separate attraction with its own entrance or exhibits.

How does Hôtel de Gramont relate to the Ritz name? It's the historical name of one of the two mansions — alongside the Hôtel Crozat — that César Ritz combined in the late 1890s to create the Ritz Paris brand; the older name survives mainly in architectural and historical records.

What's the easiest way to reach Place Vendôme? The nearest metro stops are Tuileries (line 1) and Opéra/Madeleine (lines 3, 7, 8), each just a few minutes' walk away through central Paris.

Who was the property's most recent long-term private owner? Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed owned the complex from 1979 to 2023, after which ownership shifted as part of the hotel group's broader corporate structure.