There was talk of demolishing it and building a new hotel in its place. However, it was decided to include it in the supplementary register of monuments and to create a museum there. The French Museums Directorate planned to use the old Gare d'Orsay station building as an exhibition space for art from the second half of the 19th century.
They wanted to create a unique museum complex with the nearby Louvre Museum, the Musée de l'Orangerie and the Grand Palais.
