Hôtel de Villeroy


The hôtel de Villeroy, also the hôtel de Villeroy Bourbon or hôtel de la Poste, is a hôtel particulier, a type of large townhouse of France, at 34 rue des Bourdonnais, 9 rue des Déchargeurs, 17 rue des Halles in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. It is a designated monument historique.

Description

The hôtel de Villeroy is closely linked to the history of the Neufville family as well as the history of the Kingdom of France. The first of its buildings were erected circa 1370 on the rue des Bourdonnais side of its current location.
Under Nicolas the 4th of Neufville de Villeroy the building was elaborated, progressively becoming a center for literature. His grandson Nicolas Villeroy the 5th razed the existing buildings to rebuild them in 1640 keeping the existing cellars. The Villeroy family sold the building in 1671 to the Pajot & Rouillé family, known for their postal service business. Much later under ownership of the department store À la Belle Jardinière and in disrepair with an open pit exposed during development of the adjoining Les Halles the building space nearly became a large automotive parking lot. Thanks in part to the work of a concerned citizen the building was given monument status protection by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984 and subsequently renovated.
A key architectural feature of the building in the form of a grand staircase dating from 1640 has had its original character preserved. The building is one of the few remaining structures of the former aristocratic southwest Les Halles that during the late 16th and early 17th centuries became integrated into a dense network of bourgeois and common houses. It has a second entrance at 9 rue des Déchargeurs. At the time of its construction it bordered the rue
de la Limace that was later razed to make way for the creation of the rue des Halles in 1868.

Nicolas V de Villeroy era, 1617-1671

The building was constructed in 1640 by the Duke Nicolas de Neufville de Villeroy, the then Marshal of France. The name of the building's architect remains unknown to this day. Nicolas V de Villeroy was raised in the court of King Louis XIII. After the death of the King Nicolas V became a tutor for the new King the young Louis XIV starting in 1646. The young King and his brother Prince Philippe of Orleans resided in the Royal Palace but they often went to the Hotel de Villeroy where they could play with the children of Nicolas Villeroy V, Catherine Neufville de Villeroy and François de Villeroy.
From this childhood spent between the Royal Palace and the Hotel de Villeroy a lifelong friendship formed between King Louis XIV and François de Neufville de Villeroy. Upon his passing King Louis XIV's will gave François de Neufville de Villeroy the role of educator for the King's great grandson King Louis XV.
Evidence of Nicolas V's former presence at the Hotel de Villeroy can be found in the number '5' forged into the still existing railings of the grand staircase. This staircase figured in some of the photos of the celebrated French photographer Eugène Atget.

Hôtel de la Poste era 1671 - 1738

From 1689 to 1738 the Hotel de Villeroy housed Paris' first post office. The Royal French Postal services were operated by Leon Pajot and Louis Rouillé. The Pajot & Rouillé family operated 800 "relais postaux" all over France. The most southern ones were located in Venice and Rome. Horses were carrying mail from the Hotel de Villeroy to the different relais. Mail was also exchanged with the postal services of the Thurn and Taxis family. The company was run by 3 generations of the family. Their grandson Louis Leon Pajot, last "maitre des Postes", collected valuable scientific instruments which he left to the Académie des Sciences. His International mail exchange partner was Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince of Thurn and Taxis who disposed of a Postal service in the Habsburg territories and who was based in Brussels and in Francfort. Pajot & Rouillé became one of the wealthiest families in France but their Postal empire came to an end 21 mai 1738 upon a decision of King Louis XV to withdraw the postal license. After the French Revolution the story of the Pajot & Rouillé Post was forgotten in Paris, but it remained in the memory of the Thurn & Taxis family who did not want the same faith happen to their Postal empire.

Les Halles foodmarket

During the time of the Halles de Paris the building was used to store food products and on the side of the rue des Déchargeurs was put into place a cremerie. The building today constitutes one of the largest 17th century structures in the center of Paris. Its courtyard links the two sides of the building found at 34 rue Bourdonnais and 9 rue des Déchargeurs. The building was classified as a historic monument in 1992. Today the building houses a number of inhabitants and businesses.

Return of Telecommunications - Phone Boutique - Internet cafe since 1986

was very interested in his families postal history. 1986 he came to Paris for the fashion week where he met a young student that was also working as a fashion model. He showed him the old Postal mansion, the Hotel Villeroy Bourbon and told him about his ancestor Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince of Thurn and Taxis coming from Brussels by horse. The idea came up to reactivate the Spirit of Telecommunications that according to Thurn & Taxis must have remained in the still existing walls. The start was a small Phone Boutique located on 11 rue des Halles a few meters down the street. The Boutique was helped by a few Thalers Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
had received 1867 in compensation for the nationalisation of the Postal Company.
Johannes Thurn & Taxis that loved to follow the project died 1990 but he left to the young student
his passion for Telecommunications and a friend, Aimée de Heeren
who had been a Secret Service agent during WW2.
With the help of the phones and a little jewel left by Coco Chanel to Aimée de Heeren the student was able to get a loan to buy the historic Cremerie de Paris. Two hundred fifty five years after the departure of the postal services, communications returned to the Hotel de Villeroy. In 1993 the former "Cremerie de Paris", a milkstore located on the rue des Déchargeurs side of the Hotel de Villeroy became a Sony Technology center, eventually becoming one of the first Internet cafés.
The Internet cafe opened at a time Hotels were not yet equipped with a web connection.
American tourist that were already online had difficulties to find a connection in Paris.
This brought them to the Internet Cafe located at Cremerie de Paris, Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon.
Among them many Tech pioneers which would have been difficult to meet, like the assistant of Jon Postel, inventor of the.com domain system,
an astronaute that had been on the first flight to the Moon and several young people now in charge of major US Technology corporations.
Their influence contributed to several websites invented at the Hotel de Villeroy web cafe.

Whitepages in over 50 countries

Whitepages and Yellowpages are expressions that came up in the 19th century shortly after the invention of the Telephone.
Phonecompanies were editing them on paper.
With the arrival of the internet more and more directories went online.
1994 White Pages Australia published by a division of Telstra were the first to get online. They were soon followed by White Pages New Zealand published by Telekom New Zealand.
In Europe many Telecom operators started to put their directories online,
most of the times using the translation of the english expression "white pages" into their local language
like "pages blanches", "paginas blancas" or "pagine bianche"
Used to the comfort of their Telekom Monopoly they were not realising that many international internet users
would not understand expressions that are not in English.
In other countries like Malaysia, Philippines, India phone directories never existed before.
With the help of Aimée de Heeren who came to the internet cafe every week and who had met Alexander Graham Bell when she was a young woman,
the expression "whitepages" was registered in over 50 different countries, a process which was very complicated
during the early years of the internet as a local address or other requirements were needed in many countries.
From the Hotel de Villeroy are now edited the Whitepages for France, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Poland, India, Mexico, Taiwan
and 40 other countries making the old Paris Postal Building a unique place in Telecom history.
Very few Buildings have a Technology history that goes through such a long period of time.
The old Postmaster Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his Posthorn are part of the logo.
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Expos at Crémerie de Paris

Crémerie de Paris is located on the rue des Déchargeurs side of the Hôtel de Villeroy at the corner of rue des Halles. For 100 years it was a milk store connected to the Les Halles food market. In 1993 it was acquired by the little Electrica for Sony Phone Store located on 11 rue des Halles. After having operated as an Internet café opened in the early years of the Internet, the Cremerie was converted into a brand expo center.
Many notable brands have organised Pop Up Stores and Pop Up Cafes :
Most expos and pop-up stores have been accompanied by TV commercials and video clips visible in the Phone Book of the World giving the Hotel de Villeroy an international touch. The gate of the Hôtel de Villeroy can be seen in most films, as a sign of the very rich history of the building.

Movies filmed at Crémerie de Paris