History | Yesterday
The institution
La Maison de l'Amérique Latine (the House of Latin America) was founded in 1946, in the wake of the French Resistance, under General de Gaulle's impulse and following the initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
It was born of the necessity of having Latin-American and French people meet in order to get to know each other better.
Professors Paul Rivet, Pasteur Vallery-Radot, the former ambassador of Brasil, Mr. Luiz de Souza Dantas and Mr. Robert de Billy materialized this generous idea, laying down the basis of the Maison de l'Amérique latine, whose goal is to serve, reinforce, and develop the relationships and all sorts of exchanges between France and the 20 Republics of Latin America.
Since its creation, every French Head of State that succeded one the other gave their honourable patronage, as did the ambassadors of the Republics of Latin-America.
The place
La Maison de l'Amérique latine occupies two different mansions :
- "The Hotel de Varengeville" built in 1704 by the architect Jacques Gabriel V.
- "The Hotel Amelot de Gournay" built in 1712 by the architect Boffrand.
After having belonged to prestigious families, these two mansions became properties of the Bank of France. They are linked by the first floor lounges which open onto gardens à la française.
Though the "Hotel de Varengeville" was greately mutilated in 1876 because of the extension of the boulevard Saint-Germain, and the "moods" of the different owners, the "Hotel Amelot de Gournay", on the other hand, preserved the aspect it had when it was first built. The portal, the courtyard and the lounge named "of the Ambassadors" belong to the national survey's list of historical monuments.
