William Hope’s father had been a clerk for Henry Hope, a member of the well known banking family (who also gave their name to the “Hope diamond”). Henry was based in Amsterdam and had no children.
When Henry’s clerk John Williams married his niece he changed his name to John Williams-Hope.
Their child William Hope inherited a fortune when he turned 21. He decided to move to Paris where he bought a mansion in rue St Dominique for 700,000 francs in 1838. Over the next four years he spent a fortune, estimated at 7.5 million francs, on enlarging and transforming the property. It housed his collection of art works and his fabulously decorated reception rooms on the first floor were the scene of brilliant parties.
Hope’s own private apartments were an enfilade suite on the ground floor. His bedroom was decorated in the French renaissance style with extremely ornate walls covered in blue and yellow silk damask. In 1855 he died in his bed in this room.
He had never married and the mansion was sold for 1.2 million francs, a massive loss considering the millions he spent transforming it.
It is now the Polish Embassy in Paris. His bedroom walls were dismantled and can now be seen at Les Arts Decoratifs. The original furniture has disappeared. The museum was able to locate a rare renaissance style bed from the same period.
