Embassy of the United States, Paris

The United States Embassy in France is located in the Paris Avenue Gabriel in the northwest corner of the Place de la Concorde in the 8th arrondissement. A neighbor building, the Hôtel de Crillon, but also the Elysee Palace and the residence of the Ambassador are only a few hundred meters away.

The building

One of the first used by the U.S. building stood in the Rue Raynouard No. 66 in the 16th arrondissement. In the Avenue Gabriel in 1768 was already a building that was demolished in 1931 and rebuilt in the style of neoclassicism. Architects Delano & Aldrich of New York in collaboration with Victor Laloux. The stone used was Villebois- Montalieu from the Isere department. The building was used between 1839 and 1854 as Ottoman embassy.

The institution

Representing the United States in France since the emergence of the country was always of paramount political importance. First, Silas Deane acted more in secret; one year after the Declaration of Independence of the United States of the post was first occupied in 1777 and 1778 was as a success, that the Kingdom of France recognized the newly formed state. Four of the founding fathers of the United States worked in Paris: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Thomas Jefferson participated in the design of the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights.

The title of the head varied over the centuries: Envoy, Minister Plenipotentiary; Since 1893 he is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

In the summer of 1940, the embassy moved to Vichy, diplomatic relations were suspended after the start of Operation Torch; End of 1944, Jefferson Caffery returned to Paris.

Many outstanding career diplomats were at the end of their careers in this post; next U.S. president occupied the prestigious function of an ambassador in Paris always having earned partisans as Sargent Shriver. Currently, Charles Rivkin has served as ambassador.