The Place Charles-de-Gaulle (formerly the Place de l’Etoile), where the Arc de Triomphe stands, dates from the Second Empire. In 1854, Baron Haussmann commissioned the architect Jacques-Ignace Hittorff to build twelve star-shaped avenues around the central square. Hittorff, in collaboration with Charles Rohault de Fleury, also built twelve large private mansions – the hôtels des Maréchaux – to separate the avenues. The U-shaped buildings have identical motifs (pilasters, friezes, garlands, balconies with balusters, etc.). The entrances look out onto the Rue de Tilsitt and Rue de Presbourg, while the gardens face the square.