Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur

Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur * – Rue de Monsieur, Paris. Image courtesy of RMN.

We believe that Théodore Géricault lived and studied at the Pension Dubois & Loiseau on the Rue de Monsieur, in Paris, from 1797 to 1804. In my initial discussion of Géricault at the Pension Dubois & Loiseau (linked here), I established that young Théodore’s first boarding school in Paris was situated at the former Archives of the Chevaliers of Saint-Lazarus on the Rue de Monsieur, in 1802 and 1808. Before we can continue our discussion of Géricault at the Pension Dubois & Loiseau we need to know more about the other buildings on the Rue de Monsieur: the former Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur, in particular.

(* This article was edited and for clarity and style and expanded on February 20, 2026.)

Introduction

I here provide more details about the precise location of Théodore Géricault’s first boarding school in Paris – situated in a beautiful modern building in the middle of of a leafy street between two large and famous palaces not far from his family home. A few years after Napoléon came to power, the school seems to have expanded to occupy part of the palace to the south. A decade later the school may have expanded again into the large palace to the north.

Ten years after Géricault left the school in 1804, we believe, the school moved north across the river Seine. During the years 1797 to 1813, the evidence suggests, Géricault’s school didn’t move – but simply expanded, perhaps twice. Street numbers and street names in Paris changed in meaningful ways during the same period as Napoléon transformed the city.

Background

In 1778, the French king Louis XVI agreed to the construction of a new street which would enhance the prestige of his brother (the future Charles X), then known as Monsieur, the Comte d’Artois. This new street would be known as the Rue de Monsieur and would be the site of the new stables (écuries) of the Comte d’Artois. The position of the first Écuyer (Squire) was a position of considerable prestige and normally awarded to an aristocrat of the highest pedigree. The first Écuyer of Monsieur required a residence befitting his station and rank. So, when architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart began work on the Rue de Monsieur, circa 1778-1779, the first building he constructed was the palace of the first Écuyer de Monsieur, a palace known as the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur.

Verniquet Plan: circa 1780

In the 1780s, Edme Verniquet was one of the cartographers involved in producing architecturally accurate renderings of the buildings and streets of Paris. This image from Verniquet’s papers at the Bibliothèque de Paris is the earliest image of the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur that I have been able to locate. Verniquet’s plan is obviously vital to our understanding of the construction of the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur, and the development of the Rue de Monsieur more broadly.

Rue de Monsieur – Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur (Verniquet plan). Image courtesy of Bibliothèque de Paris.

Inverted Verniquet Plan – Hôtel des Ecuries de Monsieur

Rue de Monsieur – Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur (Inverted Verniquet plan). Image courtesy of Bibliothèque de Paris.

Atlas Général de Paris (1807-1821)

The west and east sides of the Rue de Monsieur

Rue de Monsieur (West Side), Atlas général de Paris 1807-1821 – Archives Nationales (France) CP/F/31/2, Planche 14 [Fol. 22 & 23]

Numbers and Maps

The Atlas général map of Paris provides us with street numbers with property divisions marked along each street. The Verniquet map tells us that the Hôtel des Ecuries de Monsieur occupies n° 12 and perhaps n° 14 at the extreme right. We turn now to the Paris almanachs to establish how and where, year-to-year, Géricault’s school was situated on the Rue de Monsieur .

As we can see, the name Dubois alone appears in the entries from 1799 through 1802. Is this an indication of status within the partnership? The names of Dubois & Loiseau appear together from 1803 through 1814. The name of the street and the street numbers also change.

1798 Almanach du Commerce – Favre & Duchesne, “Dubois, Rue Bigault n° 756” (p. 189).
1799 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois, Rue de Bigot n° 756” (p.141).
1800 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois, R. Bigot, 756” (p. 157).
1801 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois, R. Bigot 752-756” (p. 121).
1802 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois, R. Bigot 752-756” (p. 114).
1803 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois et Loiseau, R. Bigot 752” (p. 107).
1805 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois et Loiseau, R. Bigot 752” (p. 79).
1806 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois et Loiseau, R. Fréjus n° 12” (p. 196).
1808 Almanach Impérial, Écoles de Droit à Paris, “Dubois & Loiseau, Rue Fréjus n° 12” (p. 774).
1809 Almanach du Commerce, “Dubois & Loiseau, Rue de Fréjus n° 12” (p. 207).
1810 Almanach Impérial, Écoles de Droit à Paris, “Dubois & Loiseau, Rue Fréjus n° 12” (p. 776).
1811 Almanach de Commerce, “Dubois & Loiseau, Rue de Fréjus n° 12” (p. 207).
1812 Almanach Impérial, “Dubois & Loiseau, Rue de Fréjus n° 12” (p. 861).
1813 Almanach Impérial, “Dubois et Loiseau, Rue de Fréjus n° 12” (p. p. 861) ?
1813 Almanach du Commerce “Dubois et Loiseau, Rue de Fréjus n° 8 (p.384)
1814 Almanach du Commerce de Paris, “Dubois et Loiseau, r. de Faubourg-Saint-Honoré 119” (p. 341).

The most important of these changes, in my view, are those of 1801 and 1802. From 1798 through 1800 the Pension Dubois listings in the Paris almanachs placed the Pension Dubois at n° 756 on the Rue Bigault/Bigot.

In 1801 and 1802, the Pension Dubois listing in the Paris almanachs changes to n°s 752-756. The further change to n° 752 for the Pension Dubois suggests an amalgamation or expansion of some sort, as the popularity of the school increased following Napoléon’s educational reforms of this period.

Until Napoléon’s street reforms of 1805, street numbers on the west side of the Rue de Monsieur (Bigot) increased: south to north (right to left on the maps above) during the years prior to Napoléons reconfiguration of street numbers in 1805, another reform). After 1805, street numbering on the west side of the Rue de Monsieur reversed direction, as well as shrinking. Géricault’s school had been previously been situated at n° 752 on the Rue de Monsieur the lowest number on the west side of that. After 1805, the reversed numbering direction situated the Pension Dubois (& Loiseau by then) at n° 12, the highest street number on the west side of the Rue de Monsieur. The school hadn’t moved, it seems, after 1801, but the street numbering and street names certainly had.

The two different almanachs, both from 1813, raise the possibility of a second expansion, this time to the north. The Almanach du Commerce places the pension Dubois-Loiseau on the Rue de Fréjus n° 12. The Almanach Impérial places the pension Dubois-Loiseau at n° 8, Rue de Monsieur. That number “8” is typically the Hôtel de Bourbon-Condé (also n° 10) and is still considered the most prestigious palace on the Rue de Monsieur.

Orienting the Plans of the Atlas général de Paris & of Verniquet to North/South

BLUE Maire Monsieur BW CROP Planche 11 Base

Rue de Monsieur (In blue – Maire Map of Paris – 1808 detail, Plate 11.) Private Collection.

Nicolas Maire’s 1808 Plan of Paris allows us to situate the Pension Dubois & Loiseau, Théodore Géricault’s first boarding school in Paris more clearly on the Rue de Monsieur over time. The Rue de Monsieur is outlined in blue on the Maire plan above. The Rue Babylone runs east-west to the north of the the Rue de Monsieur and the Rue Plumet does the same to the south.

Examining an enlarged version of the same 1808 Maire plan below allows us to situate the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur on the Rue de Monsieur outlined in purple.

(Former) Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur on the Rue de Monsieur – Maire Map of Paris – 1808 (detail, Plate 11.) Private Collection.

What we now see is the Pension Dubois & Loiseau was situated in the former Archives of the Chevaliers, with the Hôtel Condeé on one side (to the north) and the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur on the other (to the south). Changes in the address listings of Géricault’s school in the Paris almanachs strongly suggest that the school expanded and occupied part of the former Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur, and possibly again in 1813 to share space, or occupy the Hôtel Condeé.

Commentary

Only notarial documents will provide the details we seek about Théodore Géricault’s first boarding school in Paris. We do, however now possess much clearer picture of which buildings were situated on the Rue de Monsieur when Géricault arrived in Paris with his family in 1796, or 1797. We can now proceed to a more detailed examination of Théodore Géricualt’s experiences at the Pension Dubois & Loiseau during the years 1797 through 1804.

* As noted above, the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur is sometimes referred to as the Hôtel Montesquieu. We need not invest any time on this question now. We need only understand that the Hôtel des Ecuries de Monsieur, the Hôtel des Archives des Chevaliers de Saint-Lazare, and the Hôtel de Bourbon-Condé all stood together on the west side of the Rue Monsieur, and that each was designed and built by architect-entrepreneur Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart. That contemporary critics regarded Brongniart’s designs to be among the most modern and aesthetically pleasing of the period, as we have discussed, likely mattered a good deal to Théodore Géricault’s family, as would the pedigree of each of the Brongniart buildings on the Rue de Monsieur, the Hôtel des Écuries de Monsieur included. More to follow.

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