Residence of the Military Governor

Ideally located between Rue Brûlée (where its entrance is located) and Place Broglie (where its gardens can be seen), this building was constructed from 1754 to 1755, by the two Gayot brothers: one was the sub-delegate to the Intendant of Alsace, War Commissioner and then Royal Lender, while his brother was the Administrator of Military Rations. It was one of the last private mansions built under the Ancien Régime, and its very restrained Regency style already heralds the beginning of neoclassicism. There is a monumental entrance courtyard, in a spare style punctuated by columns in the Tuscan manner, an immense interior staircase and ceremonial areas, through which one enters the building. Columns support a vast gallery featuring a ceiling adorned with frescoes by the Alsatian painter Joseph Melling, probably painted between 1780 and 1785, representing the gods of Olympus.

Sold in 1771 to the Prince Palatine Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, duke of Zweibrücken and Lord of Ribeaupierre, a colonel who owned the regiment of Alsace, and the future King of Bavaria, the Gayot mansion was then confiscated as national property during the French Revolution. Next, it was put under the command of the French military district, and then the German one (during the annexation), finally returning to the French. It is currently the military governor’s headquarters.

The suites on the ground floor, whose windows open out onto the garden and Place Broglie, are laid out and furnished in the Regency and Empire styles. It is the residence of the Minister of Defence when he comes to Strasbourg.