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In his initial project Courtonne organized the plan of this 'hôtel-entre-cour-et-jardin' around a single longitudinal axis, thus conforming to current practice. However, in his definitive plan the axes of the court and garden façades were made discontinuous, and although the circulatory path through the building lacked symmetry, this arrangement allowed both the court façade and the stable court to gain in breadth and prominence. His plan also placed an unusual emphasis on the public rooms, apparently as a means of accommodating the collections of the owner.
In 1723, before it was finished, the Prince sold it to Jacques III de Goyen-Matignon, Comte de Thorigny, who dismissed Courtonne and brought in his own designer, Jean Mazin. Courtonne's own designs included drawings for the sculpted ornamentation of the court façade, the oval vestibule and several cornices in the main rooms, and his overall project was followed throughout, except for minor modifications in the plan of the lesser private rooms and the elimination of a pediment to crown the street portal.
Despite the lack of Classical orders on the exterior elevations of the corps de logis, the overwhelming effect of the Hôtel de Matignon, as observers at the time noted, was closer to that of a palace than an hôtel particulier. The central projection of the court façade, decorated with flat channelled rustication, wrought iron and sculpted keystones and brackets, was adapted from the type of garden front found in contemporary châteaux, while the façade facing the garden appeared to be a free-standing block, comparable with that of a maison de plaisance. This impression was further aided by the low pitch of the roofs, barely rising above the horizontal cornice supporting a balustrade.
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