Temporary Gallery at Rue Blomet, Paris

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John bought a plot of land in rue Blomet in the Vaugirard district of Paris in 1863. He employed the architect M. Pellechet senior to design and supervise the construction of a building to include a picture gallery, workshop and curators's accommodation. The building at 29 rue Blomet was completed under M. Pellechet junior by the end of 1864. Benjamin Gogué as curator lived at the Temporary Gallery. The caretaker Félix Gersant and his wife lived in the porter's lodge, converted from a house already on the site. There were concerns about the safety of the collection in the Temporary Gallery during the siege of Paris and the Commune in 1870-1871 as a shell burst in the garden but did no damage. By 1880 the paintings in the Temporary Gallery had been catalogued and sent to England or to Mlle Basset's for dispatch. The property was sold soon afterwards.

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