L’HOTEL D’ECQUEVILLY known as « GRAND VENEUR » – 60, rue de Turenne PARIS 3ème
Built between 1637-1638 for Madame de Martel by Michel Villedo, this town house passed in1646, to Claude de Guénégaud, a rich treasurer of the Savings, who extended the grounds of the house to the East as far as the Rempart of CharlesV. In 1686, the Hôtel became the property of the powerful Chancellor of France -Louis Boucherat, who already owned the neighbouring Hôtel. He instructed works to embellish the property and gave the task of designing the magnificent garden, which included an orangerie, to André Le Nôtre. He died here in 1699. His daughter, Madame de Harlay, divided up the building and leased the Hôtel, from 1708 to1717, to Voisin, the Chancellor of France, who died here. Purchased in 1733 by Vincent Hennequin d’Ecquevilly, the Captain General of the Wild Boar Company, the Hôtel was modified and embellished in the Rocaille style under the direction of the architect Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Beausire in1734-1735.
In 1833, the Hôtel became a Franciscan convent, the property of the sisters of St. Elizabeth. In 1901, the Hôtel was purchased by the Société des Magasins Réunis; the gardens and the courtyard were built over. This Hôtel is one of the last great town houses of the Marais. It is an architectural jewel of the seventeenth century by virtue of the numerous original features which have been retained.