The name of this house derives from a contraction of “mauvais port” (bad port) or “port maudit (cursed port). It was indeed in this place that the Normans landed in 856 to massacre the surrounding inhabitants, before being stopped by Charles the Bald’s army.

This very ornate house, characteristic of the pastiches created under Napoléon III, was built at the request of Edmond Adolphe Lepelletier de Bouhelier, a journalist and contributor to the “La Réforme” (the Reform) and the “Nain Jaune” (Yellow Dwarf) chronicles . In 1884, he fought a duel with Paul Viardot, the latter having paid too much attention to his wife.