Hotel de Valentinois, Paris, France - Benjamin Franklin on Waymarking.com

Metro : Passy or Muette, Address : Corner of rue Raynouard and rue Singer, 16e.

(The word "Hotel" also means "mansion" in French as it does in this case).

Today, only a very tall plaque and a portrait of Franklin on a building of more recent construction at the corner of rue Raynouard and rue Singer recall Franklin's stay in Passy. In the eighteenth century, Passy was a village outside Paris. American diplomats tended to gravitate here or to nearby Auteuil (both Passy and Auteuil now form the 16th arrondissement in Paris). Whether they were following Franklin or looking for less expensive lodgings, they were called "the Gentlemen from Passy." In any case, it was a good location for diplomats: a little bit away from Paris on the way to Versailles.

When the seventy-one-year-old Franklin arrived in Paris in 1777, he was invited to stay with Le Ray de Chaumont, and international merchant who had made a fortune trading with East India and who was supplying the Insurgents with gunpowder. He owned the sumptuous Hotel de Valentinois (some called it a chateau) in Passy with an eighteen-acre garden overlooking Paris and the river Seine. He did not accept rent from Franklin who first settled in an independent pavilion called the "Basse Cour."

It was here that Franklin lived and worked with the other members of the American mission to the Court of France, Arthur Lee, Silas Deane and later John Adams and John Jay. It was here, too, that Franklin conducted experiments on electricity, and, in another building, set up a printing press. Towards the end of his stay, Franklin moved into the main house. After he was officially named Ambassador to France, he insisted on paying rent to Chaumont...

Franklin was enormously popular all through his stay. He was already well known in Paris from his previous visits in 1767 and 1769. He had many contacts with the French intelligentsiy especially the Physiocrats and Masons. He had received personal congratulations for his experiments on electricity from King Louis XV. When he rode from Nantes to Paris in 1776, crowds lined the roads to acclaim him! John Adams was so amazed by France's admiration for him that he wrote: "When they spoke of him, they seemed to think that he was to restore the golden age!"...

Without hesitation, it can be said that it was Franklin's prestige and brilliant diplomatic skills that convinced the French to help the Insurgents. Thanks to him, France provided arms, ammunition and troops, but also the diplomatic recognition that helped the Americans win their freedom from Great Britain...

When the news of his death reached Paris in 1790, the emotion was such that, in the middle of the French Revolution, the National Assembly decided to adjourn for the day. The following year, rue Franklin was named for him. Today, the street plaque reads rue Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790, Physicist and American Statesman. The great Jefferson said that succeeding Franklin as Ambassador to France was a lesson in humility!

Franklin was never forgotten. When the violent and anti-religious French Assembly, La Convention, changed the calendar in 1793, it replaced Christian saints by Republican heroes. Benjamin Franklin was one of them; his day was June 12th. The calendar remained in use until 1805.

(Text taken from "Paris : Birthplace of the U.S.A." by Daniel Jouve, Alice Jouve, and Alvin Grossman.)

Location Type: Historic Marker Property Type: Private Fee required: no Location Notes: Metro : Passy or Muette, Address : Corner of rue Raynouard and rue Singer, 16e. Reference Web Site: Not listed Established Date: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   06/19/2005 Al-cab visited it