The palace lay outside the former ramparts, but close to what was then the Place Louis XV (now place de la Concorde). At the time, it was a self-contained little city that provided a safe haven from the sprawling city. It was built on the whim of the illegitimate daughter (later legitimized) of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. Louis XV purchased the plot to brighten up the south side of the square that would bear his name until 1790. In the Revolutionary era, it was nationalized and the Council of the Five Hundred gathered there to deliberate and legislate.