Maison Alphonse Giroux

Publisher of furniture and objets d’art (1799–1885)

Established in 1799 at 7, rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré by François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux, Maison Giroux became during the Restoration one of the most sought-after destinations in Paris for fine tabletterie, novelty objects, and luxury gifts. The court itself procured presents there for the Children of France. A man of curious intellect, Giroux also took a keen interest in the inventions of his era. In 1818, he filed a patent for a kaleidoscope, and subsequently secured exclusive sales rights for Daguerre’s process in 1839. The world’s first commercially available cameras thus bore the label “Alphonse Giroux”. Under the direction of his sons, particularly Alphonse-Gustave, the house turned its focus to furniture and artistic bronzes. At the Exposition Universelle of 1855, it presented a bonheur-du-jour in carved linden wood adorned with an exuberant naturalistic decoration, acquired by Empress Eugénie for the Château de Compiègne, where it remains today. Relocated to boulevard des Capucines from 1857, the firm was sold in 1867 to Ferdinand Duvinage, a cousin of the family, and continued its activity until 1885.