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Where U.S. Helped to Rebuild Europe, Past Glories Are Restored

The United States on Tuesday will unveil the newly restored Hôtel de Talleyrand, the historic Parisian palace on the Place de la Concorde that once served as the headquarters of the Marshall Plan, the postwar American reconstruction plan for Western Europe.

The restoration took nine years and cost about $5 million, financed by more than 100 donors from both sides of the Atlantic and absorbing the efforts of about 150 French artisans.

In 1947 the building’s owners, the Rothschild family, rented it to the State Department, which then installed a delegation headed by W. Averell Harriman, the special representative of the Marshall Plan in Europe. Before they were through, American officials disbursed $13 billion (roughly $117 billion in today’s dollars) to help underwrite Europe’s recovery.

The State Department soon purchased the building, which was used from 1952 to 2008 as a consulate and an incomparable setting for diplomatic meetings and cultural events....
Read entire article at NYT