This private mansion was built in 1605 by the widow of a royal secretary. Only a few years later, in 1608, Antoine Le Fèvre de la Borderie, an ambassador of Henry IV, bought it but after his death, it was once again on sale. The Chalons, a family of merchants from Rouen, and later Marie Amelot, the wife of the marquis Charles Béon de Luxembourg de Massez, purchased the property and gave their name to the building. It was Marie Amelot who commissioned the decoration of the facade with an impressive head of a lion. During its history, the Hôtel de Chalons-Luxembourg kept changing hands until it was eventually donated to the City of Paris. In fact, strange though it might seem, the mansion’s last private owner, the architect Jean Walter, is believed to have purchased it for the price of one franc!