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# Having a look inside the once much-discussed hotel right beside the Palace of Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle Château de Versailles
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/posmotrel-kak-vygliadit-vnutri-odno-vremia-mnogo-obsuzhdavshiisia-otel-v-neposredstvennoi-blizosti-k-versalskomu-dvortsu-le-grand-controle-chateau-de-versailles/
- Published: 2026-02-24T08:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:26:53.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Observations, Heritage, Mores, Paris

The hotel's unique selling point is its location literally on the palace grounds, that is, within the boundaries of the estate, behind the gates of the palace complex rather than merely next to them, and with a view of the Orangery into the bargain.

The building itself, originally the Grand Contrôle des Finances, built in 1681, is furnished inside in keeping with the fashion of the late eighteenth century. In fact, the entire marketing campaign is built around that period: immersion in the Age of Enlightenment, the domestic life of the last monarchs before the Revolution, the spirit of Marie Antoinette's day, all that tinsel of the Kirsten Dunst variety.

In short, that is how the hotel is dressed up for advertising purposes. No wonder: a night there starts at something like 2,800 euros and climbs to nearly 15,000.

The tales of genuine period antiques should not be taken too seriously. The factories producing mass furniture "in the style of" have not been abolished, and most of the images available show a simplified adaptation of the eighteenth century, with some beige porcelain stoneware and odd design decisions that seem drawn from Reels rather than from historical sketches and scholarly descriptions.

I know that the Mobilier national did indeed lend a few authentic pieces to supplement the furnishings, but we must understand that this is "administrative" furniture: the wooden frame of a fireplace screen, the carcass of an armchair, a chair and a most ordinary chest of drawers with a marble top. In other words, details of the image of a former administrative capital of the kingdom and of a typically French invention, the ministry. In fact, this is plain ministerial furniture from the Grand Contrôle, in sharp contrast to the furniture of the royal residence close by and to the pomp in which a luxury hotel is wrapped.

The result is a style I would call Airbnb-ish, for guests from the Emirates and for not the most discerning Emilys "in Paris". The décor of the vaunted Michelin-starred restaurant recalls the aesthetics of the good old Caucasian-cuisine establishments somewhere around Ostozhenka. In a word, true perfection, designed to satisfy the tastes of an Emirati clientele.

Incidentally, I remember when this building housed the Versailles military club, open to anyone who wished and often used for receptions by the residents of Versailles. It needed restoration work, but certainly not this wholly predictable act of vandalism.

And it would probably be rather naive to suppose that these hotel fittings will be dismantled when the administrative lease expires, so that the former ministry could be integrated into a tourist route making use of elements of its original furniture.

I forbid any raptures.

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