The former Château de Meudon, on a hill in Meudon, about 4 kilometres southwest of Paris, occupied the terraced steeply sloping site. It was acquired by Louis XIV, who greatly expanded it as a residence for Louis, le Grand Dauphin. It was largely ignored under Louis XV and Louis XVI, but became the official residence of the King of Rome from 1812, and was occupied by Jérôme Bonaparte under the Second Empire. The main building was largely destroyed in a fire in 1871, and it is now the site of the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon.