Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande (from where Beaumarchais supplied Washington’s army)

Detail of a Medusa on the door of the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil.
A close-up of the front door of the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil.

Also sometimes called the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, Beaumarchais supplied the American Revolution from this building.

With clandestine French and Spanish government help, he set up a front company called Roderigue Hortalez & Cie which sold clothing and arms to the fledging American forces from 1776 to 1778. Louis XVI and the Minister of Foreign Affairs used the company to launder 1,000,000 livres from the Royal Treasury for the American rebels. At this time, France was officially in peace with England and wasn’t supposed to be doing this sort of thing!

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