Hervé Alphand was a French diplomat, and French ambassador to the United States, from 1956 to 1965.
Born into a family of diplomats, he studied law and political science. In a long and distinguished career, he held diplomatic posts in Turkey, the Soviet Union, and the United States during World War II. He left the government in 1941 to join Charles de Gaulle’s government in exile in London.
After the war he served as French representative to conferences on the security and reconstruction of Europe and the development of the Marshall Plan.
During his term as French Ambassador to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations, the French embassy was renowned for their opulent diplomatic receptions hosting visiting dignitaries like Andre Malraux and arranging the 1962 exhibition of the Mona Lisa at the National Gallery of Art— the first time the masterpiece had travelled outside of France.
He published his memoirs, L’étonnement d’être/The Wonder of Being: A Journal 1939 to 1973 in 1977.
The Homes
2221 Kalorama Road, NW, Washington, DC (French Ambassador's Residence)
This mansion, originally built as a single-family home with 19 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, is a combination of Tudor Revival and Jacobean Revival styles. It was used as an ambassador’s residence and chancery beginning in 1936. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
Also home to: Henri Bonnet John Hays Hammond
Hervé Alphand
2221 Kalorama Road, NW
Located in Sheridan/Kalorama neighborhood, Northwest- West of Rock Creek