Frederick III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg, commissioned the Hôtel de Salm, which Pierre Rousseau designed. It was built from 1782 to 1787, though the article's introduction says the 1770s. Thomas Jefferson wrote that he had fallen in love with the building in Paris while it was under construction.
The revolutionary government nationalized it. On May 13, 1804, it was renamed the Palais de la Légion d'honneur and became the seat of the newly created order. Antoine-François Peyre remodeled the interior, and Jean Guillaume Moitte and Philippe-Laurent Roland added exterior sculptures.
The Paris Commune burned the palace in 1871, and Anastase Mortier led the rebuild. It stands at 64 Rue de Lille, was classified as a historical monument in 1985, and houses the Musée de la Légion d'honneur.
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