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Construction
and original purpose of the building:
royal furnishings store
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1748-1750:
The City of Paris requested of King Louis XV the right to
build a monument for him in the capital, on a site of his
choice. The city fathers proposed to develop the marshy Fondrière
area, now the Place de la Concorde, which extended beyond
the Tuileries Gardens to the Champs Élysées,
then a market garden area. An architectural competition was
organised, but none of the entries were to the King's liking.
Louis XV eventually gave his approval for the project to
go ahead and gave the City of Paris land in the area he
had received from the estate of Scots banker John Law: totally
undeveloped marshy land not in the centre of Paris but beyond
the Tuileries.
1753-1755:
A second development competition was organised. The Superintendent
of Royal Buildings put forward 19 new projects, all to be
rejected by the King who chose to appoint his leading architect,
Ange-Jacques Gabriel, to draw up plans for developing the
area that would make the most of the best entries in the
competition.
1755 |
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| After the official groundbreaking
ceremony for the pedestal of the royal statue ordered from
Edme Bouchardon, the start of work on the new place commenced
in September, on the Champs Élysées side. |
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 Gabriel's
final project, with two buildings separated by a central road,
now Rue Royale, was approved by the King on 9 December
1755.
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Gabriel's
project for Place Louis XV
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1758
The foundations of the building façade were laid.
1759
Guillaume II Coustou, the son of the creator of the Marly
Horses, presented his design for the sculpted pediments
of the eastern building.
1765
The King initially ordered a furnishings storage centre
(Garde-Meubles) and a financial centre to be established
in the building, but decided three years later to have the
entire eastern building used to display the finest pieces
of Crown furnishings, although some pieces were kept in
Versailles for private use. The building is thus the result
of the King's desire to show Parisians some of the finest
furnishings manufactured in France, at a location as centrally
located as possible.
He allocated 1 million pounds to the project.
1768
Construction of the furnishings storage building behind
the façade began in April and ran until 30 November
1774, six months after Louis XV's death.
Crown furnishings and collections were moved into the specially
built premises designed to receive them. They chiefly comprised
carpets, tapestries, fabrics, weapons, and jewels. The building
was practically a museum, since the people were allowed
to visit the first Tuesday of each month during the season
of fine weather between Easter and All Saints' Day.
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From the Revolution until today:
Navy Ministry, then Naval HQ
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11 July 1789 |
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 Prince
de Lambesc ordered the dispersal of people who had gathered
on the Place Louis XV to protest against the dismissal of
the Minister of Finance, Jacques Necker. To defend themselves,
some protestors had the idea of using the weapons exposed
in the Garde-Meubles. The armour, swords, and other weapons
of several French kings and other leading figures, including
the sabre of Bertrand du Guesclin, were taken. The building
was subsequently pillaged a number of times.
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| 11 - 17 September
1792 |
Around 30 burglars
broke into the Crown Jewels room and made off with more than
9,000 gemstones, including several famous treasures such as
the Sancy and Régent diamonds and the Côte de
Bretagne ruby, along with gold and silverware.
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| 1792 |
 The
décor of the Garde-Meubles building suffered extensive
damage: emblematic fleur de lys patterns were defaced and
royal ciphers (intertwined Ls for "Louis") were
replaced by purely decorative motifs. |
21 January 1793 |
While Gaspard Monge was Minister
of the Navy, the government of the Girondine Convention watched
the execution of Louis XVI from the Hôtel de la Marine
on 21 January 1793, followed by the government of the
Reign of Terror witnessing the beheading of Marie-Antoinette
on 16
October 1793.
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| 1795 |
With the end of
the Reign of Terror, the place acquired the name its goes
by today, Place de la Concorde, as a sign of appeasement.
It had been known successively as Place Louis XV and Place
de la Révolution, and had been the bloody venue of
some of the worst moments of the Revolution: of 2,500 people
guillotined in Paris, more than half were executed at Place
de la Concorde.
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1799 |
The Ministry of the Navy became
the Ministry of the Navy and Colonies and was located in the
Garde-Meubles building until 1806 when what remained of the
royal furnishings was removed.
1814
The allied coalition opposing Napoleon was victorious. The
occupying forces under Czar Alexander occupied one wing of
the building which nevertheless retained its naval vocation
because of its interior décor featuring battle paintings
by Vernet.
26 October 1836
King Louis-Philippe watched from the balcony as the Luxor
obelisk was raised in the centre of the Place de la Concorde,
the equestrian statue of Louis XV that had stood there previously
having been removed and melted down at the end of the previous
century.
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| 1848 |
 Victor
Schoelcher signed the Abolition of Slavery Act in the halls
of the building (slavery was an issue handled by the Ministry
of the Navy and Colonies). |
1866
Napoleon III was very favourably impressed by the premises
during a lavish ball organised there by the Ministry of the
Navy.
1870
The halls were requisitioned for those wounded in the Siege
of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
4 July 1919
From the balcony, the wife of French President Raymond Poincaré
watched the parade celebrating victory in the First World
War. The parade made a detour to march past the Hôtel
de la Marine in honour of the seamen who had risked and given
their lives during the four years of war.
Second World War |
 The
building was occupied by the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine.
At this time the two shutters of the corner hall had holes
put in them so that activity on the Place de la Concorde and
on Rue de Rivoli could be observed. |
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Since the war
General de Gaulle set up in the building the first offices
devoted to nuclear weapons. The electrical installations
in the Admiralty Halls testify to this period; they were
highly advanced for their time.
After the Second World War the building was once again associated
with the sea, becoming the Headquarters for the French Navy
(Admiralty).
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(Updated : August 2007)  |
Hôtel
de la Marine