In French contexts, an hôtel particulier (French pronunciation: [otɛl paʁtikylje]) is a townhouse of a grand sort. The word Hôtel was reflected in the English mediaeval word "Inn" for the townhouse of a nobleman, now surviving only as used in Inns of Court, particulier meaning "personal" or "private". Whereas an ordinary maison (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing, and by the 18th century it would always be located entre cour et jardin, between the entrance court, the cour d'honneur, and the garden behind. There are hôtels particuliers in many large cities, such as Paris, Bordeaux, Albi, Aix en Provence, Avignon, Caen, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy, Rouen, Rennes, Toulouse and Troyes.
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