The Élysée Palace

An eighteenth-century town house on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, home of the French presidency, and the ledger of every president since 1848.

The Élysée Palace is the official residence and office of the President of the French Republic. It stands on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, a short walk from the Champs-Élysées, which gives it its name. It was built as a private town house, and it still looks like one from the street.

The building

The house was built between 1718 and 1722 for Louis-Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Count of Évreux, to a design by the architect Armand-Claude Mollet. It was a hôtel particulier: a grand private house with a courtyard in front and a garden behind. Louis XV bought it for Madame de Pompadour, and later owners included the financier Nicolas Beaujon, Napoleon's family and the restored Bourbons.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte moved in after he was elected president in December 1848. When he made himself emperor four years later, he moved to the Tuileries Palace. The Third Republic settled its presidents at the Élysée in the 1870s, and every president of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Republics has worked there since. The prime minister has a separate seat across the river, the Hôtel Matignon.

Who held the office

The ledger records 32 terms in the presidency since 1848, held by 31 people. The table has three gaps, and each one is a period when France had no president:

1. 1852–1870: the Second Empire, when Louis-Napoléon ruled as Napoleon III.
2. 1940–1946: the Vichy regime and the Liberation. Philippe Pétain was "Chief of the French State," a different office, and the ledger does not count him as president.
3. Interims: the table also shows short caretaker holders. The President of the Senate acts as president when the office falls vacant, which is why Alain Poher appears twice, in 1969 after Charles de Gaulle resigned and in 1974 after Georges Pompidou died.

32 tenures. Source: Wikidata, retrieved 2026-09-23.

Two heads of the executive

The Fifth Republic, founded in 1958, splits executive power. The president is elected directly for five years and appoints the prime minister, who must keep the confidence of the National Assembly. When the president's party loses the Assembly, the two offices are held by opponents. The French call that cohabitation, and it happened in 1986, 1993 and 1997.

36 tenures. Source: Wikidata, retrieved 2026-09-23.

Last updated September 22, 2026.