 They walked among the flower beds and the shrubberies, marvelling at the boldness and elegance of the trellis work forming gateways, arcades, grottoes, domes, Chinese pavilions..."

By the end of the eighteenth century, the faubourg was becoming "demodé", with the westward development of fashionable Paris on the Rive Droite.The duc de Biron's heir, Armand Louis de Gontaut, duc de Lauzun, was guillotined in 1793.During Napoleon's reign, the Hôtel de Biron was the seat of the Papal legate and then of the Russian ambassador.