The school is located in the heart of the Saint-Germain district in the Hôtel de la Mothe-Houdancourt.
Charles de la Mothe-Houdancourt and his wife Elisabeth de la Vergne du Cressan became the owners on 4 September 1708, for 70,000 pounds, of a hotel located between that of Mr. Maréchal de Tess and the house of Mr. Lefèvre. It belonged to Pierre Lemaitre, King's architect, who had it "built at his own expense on a square measuring 298 toises in area, containing a house, courtyard, farmyard and garden".
The courtyard has preserved, approximately, the appearance desired by Pierre Lemaistre, who can be counted among the important architects of the end of the Louis XIV's reign as he was admitted to the academy in 1699 and received a pension of 1,000 pounds in 1709.
Charles de la Mothe-Houdancourt, appointed lieutenant general in 1702, was disgraced in 1709 for having surrendered the place of Ghent against the laws of war. According to Saint Simon, "he was a disinterested man, full of valor, honor and ambition, who served all his life, summer and winter, but at the same time, the shortest, most stubborn and most incompetent man among the lieutenant generals."
In 1728, his son Louis-Charles, promoted to marshal in 1747, inherited the hotel. The interior design was rejuvenated. The work was carried out between 1773 and 1775 following the orders and plans of the architect Munster.
In the garden, Mr Moquet plants shrubs between the boundary wall and the winding path surrounding the central bowling green.
The heirs sold the hotel to the Duke of Infantado in 1778; he gave it to Adélaïde-Luce-Madeleine de Galard de Béarn, governess to the children of the Count of Artois, widow of Bertrand de Caumont, Count of Mussidan.
During the revolution, the hotel was sequestered. In 1808, Henriette-Louise d'Argouges, widow of Philippe de la Trémoille, Prince of Talmont, became the owner. It remained in this family until 1883, when it was acquired by the Grenelle real estate company. Since then, the hotel has housed a school, first the Saint Nicolas girls' school and then the Sainte Clotilde mixed school.
Of its former decor, only fragments of the Louis XVI salon have been preserved. The building on the street has been raised and the terrace of the wing on the courtyard covered with buildings.
A playground replaces the garden.
