Hôtel de Beauvais - Part I
Here is one of the stops during my Absolute Monarchy tour in the Marais area of Paris. I will not spoil the stories I tell during my tour (sorry, you have to attend!) though I can tell you about the place.

This "hôtel" (private mansion) was built from 1654 to 1660 for Pierre de Beauvais, counsellor for the King and his wife Catherine-Henriette Bellier, first maid and confident of Queen Anne (mother of young Louis XIV).

The monogram "PCHB" stands for Pierre and Catherine-Henriette de Beauvais and the sculpture represents the head of a ram as Catherine maiden name Bellier means exactly that in French.