Hôtel d'Entrechaux

Hôtel d'Entrechaux stands on Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence, among the grand townhouses that line the city's most famous avenue.

Locating the building

The address is 32 Cours Mirabeau, right in the middle of Aix-en-Provence, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department. Cours Mirabeau, shaded by rows of plane trees, has been the address of choice for the city's parliamentary and merchant elite since the 17th and 18th centuries, and dozens of private mansions still line its length. Hôtel d'Entrechaux is one of them, its entrance marked by Louis XVI-style woodwork that stands out against the older 17th-century stonework of the facade.

Three names, three owners

Construction dates to around 1650, commissioned by a procurator named Garnier, which is why the building is sometimes still referred to as Hôtel Garnier in older records. On the eve of the French Revolution, ownership had passed to the Marquise de Tulles de Villefranche, born Ricard de Brégançon. The name it carries today only attached itself during the Second Empire, when a baron d'Entrechaux acquired the property and gave it his family name.

A confectioner on the ground floor

In the early 19th century, the ground floor was occupied by Bicheron, a confectionery shop well known across Aix at the time. The business later continued under the name La Reine Jeanne, keeping the same commercial tradition going in the same spot for generations. This pattern — grand residences above, shops and workshops at street level — is common along Cours Mirabeau and explains why the avenue still feels commercially alive rather than purely monumental.

Why it is worth a stop

Walking Cours Mirabeau, it is easy to pass Hôtel d'Entrechaux without a second glance — there is no plaque inviting visitors inside, and the building functions as ordinary private property today. What makes it worth pausing for is the layered history visible on the facade itself: a mid-17th-century structure commissioned by a legal official, later passed through a marquise and a baron, with a confectioner's shop tucked underneath for decades. For travelers tracing the history of Aix's hôtels particuliers, it fits naturally into a walking route alongside the other mansions of Cours Mirabeau.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors go inside Hôtel d'Entrechaux? No, it is a private building with residential and commercial use, so the interior is not open to the public; it is best appreciated from the street.

Why is the building sometimes called Hôtel Garnier? Garnier was the name of the procurator who had the mansion built around 1650. The current name only came into use two centuries later, under a baron d'Entrechaux.

What architectural detail should visitors look for? The Louis XVI-style woodwork on the entrance door is the most distinctive feature, added later than the original 17th-century construction.

Where exactly is Hôtel d'Entrechaux located? It stands at 32 Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence's central boulevard, within easy walking distance of the old town.