French Embassy, Washington, D.C. Ambassade de France à Washington
French Embassy in 2022
Location	Washington, D.C.
Address	4101 Reservoir Road,N.W.
Coordinates	38°54′49.27″N77°4′40.63″W / 38.9136861°N 77.0779528°W /38.9136861; -77.0779528
Ambassador	Laurent Bili [fr]

TheEmbassy of France in Washington, D.C., is theFrench diplomatic mission to theUnited States.

It is located at 4101 Reservoir RoadNW,Washington, D.C., just north ofGeorgetown University.^[1] It is accessed by theRosslyn station on theWashington Metro. The embassy opened in 1984. With some 400 staffers, it isFrance's largest foreignembassy. The embassy represents the interests of France and French citizens in the United States and conducts the majority of diplomatic work on such interests within the U.S.

The embassy is headed by theFrench Ambassador to the United States, currentlyLaurent Bili [fr]. In addition to the standard diplomatic facilities, the compound includes La Maison Française, a cultural facility consisting of an auditorium, ballroom, and exhibition hall. Like many embassies, it regularly hosts events for the general public including music recitals (e.g.Baroque,classical,jazz,contemporary,pop and alternative music),films, dance, exhibitions, lectures and theatre.

In the 19th century, like most other embassies in Washington, D.C., the French rented houses (such as the corner house of theSeven Buildings from 1804 to 1811), and did not settle for a durable location. Its first permanent address was in theBeaux-Arts mansion at the corner of 16th Street and Kalorama Road NW, across the street fromMeridian Hill Park, which is still extant and is now owned by theAK Party Representation to the United States, the U.S. government relations arm of the governing political party inTurkey.^[2]Mary Foote Henderson, a wealthy individual who lived nearby and had the ambition to develop the neighborhood as Washington's most upscale location, commissioned the building from architectGeorge Oakley Totten Jr. for use by the French embassy in coordination with ambassadorJules Jusserand, who moved there upon building completion in 1907. The French state paid the rent to Henderson, then to her estate after she died in 1931.^[3]

In 1936, the embassy purchased a larger property at 2221 Kalorama Road NW,^[4] a 1910Tudor Revival building in the then-prestigiousKalorama neighborhood,^[5] originally designed by the French-born American architectJules Henri de Sibour for businessman William Watson Lawrence.^[5]

By the early 1970s, the administrative roles of the embassy had expanded far beyond what they had been in the interwar era, and its services were scattered in buildings throughout Washington, D.C. In 1973, theFrench government decided to build a new facility and purchased an eight-acre property next toGlover-Archbold Park. In 1975, government architectAndré Remondet [fr] won the design competition; construction works started in 1982 and was completed in late 1984.^[6]

In February 2015, the Kalorama residence reopened after undergoing a $4.5 million renovation.^[5] The home features art, mostly by French artists such asPierre Bonnard, but also by non-French artists such asIgor Mitoraj.^[5] The property at one point encompassed 3.6 acres,^[5] but in 2017 the French government put an empty tract of 0.58 acres of the property up for sale.^[4]

The embassy operates several services and offices, responsible for different areas of policy and for liaising with relevant American bodies. The most notable of the services are listed below.

The Chancery is the main diplomatic and political body. It is responsible for coordination with the American government on matters that affect France, particularly foreign policy. However, diplomacy is primarily conducted by the ambassador, leaving the chancery to liaise with the French government and coordinate with the Press Service in matters of public policy. The diplomats of the chancery take responsibility for a specific policy area and may stand in for the ambassador in his absence.The Chancery hasattachés based in each of the ten regional consulates.^[7]

The Press Service is responsible for the publication of the embassy's newsletter and magazine, as well as coordinating press releases and conferences, including the provision of designated spokesmen. The office also monitors American press coverage on issues pertaining to France and reports back to the ambassador and to Paris.^[8]

These offices promote cooperation between the two countries on military and defense matters. The primary responsibility of the former is to facilitate liaison between the two government departments and the two nations' militaries, while latter oversees cooperation on matters of armaments and has responsibility for arms spending in the US as well as working with the US to develop new military technology. Both offices have a role to play in keeping the ambassador abreast of current defence issues and advisingthe Pentagon on French defence policy.^[9]

The Cultural Services of the embassy is located at972 Fifth Avenue inManhattan,New York City. Its responsibility is to facilitate "cultural exchange" between the two nations, a role that can be creative, informative or merely administrative. The duties of the service include promoting French creative works in cultural and academic institutions from across France, with the help of the attachés in regional consulates.^[10]

The Office of Science and Technology (OS&T) is tasked with:

• promoting French science and technology with US actors, and with science expats, by organizing events and publishing local or topical newsletters;
• outreach activities to US academia and federal research bodies, with other European science advisors, and through an active presence in theScience Diplomats Club through "Science Breakfasts" organized since 2005, chairing the Club since 2010;
• watching and reporting on scientific breakthroughs, investments and innovations in key fields, by networking with academia, R&D agencies, non-governmental organizations, Congress, think tanks, etc.;
• building and sustaining scientificpartnerships by organizing expert visits, seminars, and promoting annual calls of the French-US joint endowments and funds;
• fosteringdoctoral mobility of students and researchers, in particular with its flagshipChateaubriand program (see below).^[11]

OS&T is an active, reactive and proactive observer of scientific activity, technological innovations and their impact on the US society and beyond. OS&T is headquartered at the Washington, D.C. embassy and has teams at the French consulates of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. OS&T collaborates with French research agencies, universities, engineering schools, and competitiveness clusters.

The Chateaubriand Fellowship Program, run by the Embassy of France, offers scholarships for US students to study in France.^[12] Founded in 1981, the fellowship has provided semester- and year-long support to over 750 students in thehumanities,social sciences,natural sciences, andtechnology.^[13][14] The acceptance rate for the fellowship is between 6 and 8 percent annually.^[15]

The program, which aims to promote French-US cooperation, is run by the Office for Science & Technology and the Cultural Services division.^[16][17]

This is the office primarily concerned with maintaining and developing new trade links between the countries. For example, it assists French businesses trying to establish themselves in the US and vice versa. It also helps large and small French businesses which have long since established themselves in the American market, providing support and advice on economic and trade policies, both within the US and in France.^[18]

This office represents the French Treasury in the United States and Canada. It works in close partnership with theFederal Reserve, theDepartment of the Treasury and French and Americanfinancial institutions. Its role is to develop French economic policy in conjunction with the aforementioned bodies and to explain the policies to the United States. It has two offices, one in the embassy and a second in New York, from where it can work withWall Street in order to better develop monetary policy.^[19]

Theambassador is also ultimately responsible for the 10 regionalconsulates:^[20]

1. Consulate General of France in Atlanta, responsible forAlabama,North Carolina,South Carolina,Georgia,Mississippi, andTennessee^[21]
2. Consulate General of France in Boston, responsible forMassachusetts,Maine,New Hampshire,Rhode Island, andVermont^[22]
3. Consulate General of France in Chicago responsible forIllinois,Indiana,Iowa,Kansas,Kentucky,Michigan,Minnesota,Missouri,Nebraska,North Dakota,South Dakota,Ohio,Wisconsin.^[23]
4. Consulate General of France in Houston, responsible forTexas,Oklahoma andArkansas^[24]
5. Consulate General of France in Los Angeles, responsible forArizona,Colorado,New Mexico,Southern California, andSouthern Nevada^[25]
6. Consulate General of France in Miami, responsible forFlorida,Puerto Rico, theBahamas, theU.S. Virgin Islands,Cayman Islands, andTurks and Caicos Islands^[26]
7. Consulate General of France in New Orleans, responsible forLouisiana^[27]
8. Consulate General of France in New York, responsible forNew York,New Jersey,Connecticut, andBermuda^[28]
9. Consulate General of France in San Francisco, responsible forNorthern California, NorthernNevada,Alaska,Hawaii,Idaho,Montana,Oregon,Utah,Washington,Wyoming, andGuam.^[29]
10. Consulate General of France in Washington, responsible for theDistrict of Columbia and states ofMaryland,Virginia,West Virginia,Delaware andPennsylvania.^[30]

In 2006, a judge ruled that an employee of the Cultural Service of the French Embassy had been illegitimately fired for being pregnant and Muslim. "This may be the only time a U.S. court has extended the reach of thecivil rights laws to extend to a foreign citizen, working for a foreign government on foreign soil at an embassy here in D.C." said Ari Wilkenfeld for NBC Washington.^[31]

• List of diplomatic missions of France
• Alliance française
• France – United States relations

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• France–United States relations
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