The Hôtel Lambert is an hôtel particulier, a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name Hôtel Lambert also came to designate a political faction of Polish exiles associated with Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, who had purchased the Hôtel Lambert.
Hôtel Lambert in 2010
Floor plan of Louis Le Vau's Hôtel Lambert
The Galerie d'Hercule, decorated by Charles Le Brun.
"Chopin's Polonaise - Ball at Hôtel Lambert in Paris," by Teofil Kwiatkowski. Chopin plays while Czartoryski (left) listens. Decorative vaulting was temporary.
An hôtel particulier is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary maison (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing and, by the 18th century, would always be located entre cour et jardin – between the cour d'honneur and the garden behind. There are hôtels particuliers in many large cities in France.
The Hôtel de Soubise in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris
Hôtel de Guénégaud in Paris
Hôtel Prouvost in Roubaix
Hôtel de Caumont in Aix-en-Provence.