Description

Although this building was built in the 18th century and is the home of the Chambers of Commerce, the site on which it stands has been in use for 800 years. The Hôtel de Nesle (where the mother of Louis IX, Blanche de Castille, died in 1252), the Hôtel de Bohème, and the Hôtel de Orléans all stood at this site. King Louis XII once lost the building to his chamberlain after a cribbage game, and it has also been a convent for wayward women. Catherine de Medici later moved the convent out and had a new building constructed in 1572, the Hôtel de la Reine, later called the Hôtel de Savoy. A column from the Hôtel de la Reine still remains intact and is thought to have been used by the astrologer Florentin Ruggieri as an observatory.