Hôtel Lambert:

Constructed between 1640 and 1644, this noble townhouse is situated on the eastern end of the island on the corner of the Quai d'Anjou, the street that runs along the northeastern quay, and the rue Saint-Louis-en-Ile which bisects the island lengthwise. Completed for a M. Jean-Baptiste Lambert, seigneur de Thorigny in accordance with the designs of Louis le Vau, the building is known first for its exceptional decoration and second for the history associated with its proprietors, residents, and visitors.

Architecturally the hotel is known for its tall windows, its long wrought-iron balcony (one of the first on the island) and its splendid rotunda capped by a circular terrace. Some of France's most reputed artists worked on the decoration of the Hôtel Lambert, most notably Eustache le Sueur and Charles le Brun. Le Sueur was responsible for the grand staircase, a handsome bath cabinet, and several paintings including Apollon écoutant les plaintes de Phaéton (Apollo hearing the pleas of Phaeton) and the Neuf Muses (nine muses), today both relocated, as is most of the original artwork, to various art collections, galleries, or museums. Neither can one forget one of the hotel's most famous decorative features, the Gallery of Hercules, which was designed and executed by Le Brun.

Other contributors include Bassan who painted the Enlèvement des Sabines, Patel and Hermans who contributed landscapes, Romanelli and François du Perrier also contributing paintings, and Van-Ostade contributing sculptures.

The Hôtel Lambert has a long history associated with Polish politics. The original owner himself, M. Lambert de Thorigny was deeply interested in what was called the "Polish question" in France. He created the Polish Library, the Polish Historical Society, the Institute for Young Ladies, and a School for Young Men on the island making the hotel the greatest center of Polish political, cultural, and social life outside of the country.

At the death of the original proprietor, the hotel passed to his son and then, from 1726 to 1729, on to the Fermier Général Dupin and to the Marquis du Châtelet-Laumont. Afterwards the hotel came into the hands of the Fermier Général Delahaye who set about selling the artwork and marble. Near the beginning of the 19th century Jean-Paul Bachasson de Montalivet, Minister of the Interior, bought the hotel and converted it into a depot for military beds. Then in 1842, the royal Polish family Czartoryski outbid the City of Paris for the hotel and began restorations on the building. It remained the property of the family until nigh 1976.

Famous patrons of the Hôtel Lambert included Fryderyk Chopin who composed "La Polonaise" for the yearly ball, George Sand, quasi-feminist writer, Honoré de Balzac, Voltaire, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Zygmunt Krasinski, and Alphonse de Lamartine.