 Just to the east of the Place du Châtelet lies Paris's Hôtel de Ville (city hall).It stands on the almost exact location of a 12th-century "house of columns" belonging to the city's "Prévôt des Marchands" (a city governor of commerce), then a later version built in 1628 whose shell is still the same today.Just across the street to the north of rue de Rivoli is the large 1870s-built BHV (Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville) department store.