Hotel de Ville, Paris

Hotel de Ville houses Paris's city government, and is one of the loveliest buildings in town. For a good view from outside, go to the top floor of the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville (BHV) department store opposite, and walk up a flight of stairs to the roof terrace. The present structure replaced the 16th-century original, which burned down in 1871. An enlarged pastiche of its predecessor, the new building was built by the architects Ballu and Deperthes and was mostly completed by 1882. The building is lavishly decorated both inside and out, and finished in an arresting white stone, similar to that used for the Sacre-Coeur basilica. When Paris was liberated from the Germans in 1944, General de Gaulle greeted the crowds from a front window of the building. Robespierre was shot in the jaw and arrested in the original building in 1794. Use our Paris route planner to arrange your visit to Hotel de Ville and other attractions in Paris.