The emblematic and magnificent Hôtel de Beauvais was built in 1654 by Antoine Le Pautre (1621-1679), the first architect of the King, on the site of the old town house of the Chaâlis Abbey, including a remarkable 13th century Gothic hall. Catherine de Beauvais, known as Cateau la Borgnesse, the first maid of Queen Anne of Austria, was chosen by her, according to the customs of the time, to «denigrate» the young Louis XIV. As a reward for this service to the Crown, she obtained the money needed to build this splendid hotel in the heart of the Marais. The very irregular configuration of the land, which is a polygon with seventeen sides, led Antoine Le Pautre to design a building of a powerfully original architecture, all in trompe-l'oeil and false symmetries, organized around a semi-formal courtyardoval of a shape unique in the world. It was at the Hôtel de Beauvais, inaugurated on this occasion, that Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse of Austria were welcomed in Paris by the Queen Mother, surrounded by Mazarin and the whole Court, on the day of their solemn entry into the capital on the return of their marriage (26 August 1660). Among the titles of glory of this hotel is also that of having hosted, at the time when it was occupied by the Bavarian Embassy, the young Mozart, then only 7 years old but already very famous as child prodigy, during the first stay of the illustrious composer in Paris, from November 1763 to April 1764. It was there that Mozart, who lived there as a family, composed the first published works during his lifetime. The Hôtel de Beauvais, listed as a historic monument, has been home to the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris since its complete restoration in 2003.
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