38o 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



362. PARIS : HOTEL DE MATIGNON, 57 RUE DE CRENELLE (NOW AUSTRIAN 

 EMBASSY), BY J. COURTONNE (1721). GARDEN FRONT. 



number of others in Paris, especially in the Faubourg St Germain, also 

 at Bordeaux, Strasburg, and other cities exemplify this type of dignified 

 aristocratic architecture. 



A four-storeyed house designed by Meissonnier in the island of 

 St Louis at Paris, on a small four-sided but not rectangular site open 

 on three sides, is an example of the best achievements of the rococo 

 school (Fig. 363). The exterior is, as usual, very plain, but all the 

 rooms are decorated in the rococo manner. By means of panelling 

 and other devices the rooms are given regular but varied shapes, and 

 access is provided to the windows, which, owing to their regular spacing 

 externally, come in awkward places, by ingeniously planned recesses, 

 without breaking the design of the room. 



In houses such as those inhabited by the bourgeoisie where 

 there is only a narrow front to the street, the external decoration is 

 often relatively more profuse, as, for example, in the Maison des 

 Chimeres (133 Rue St Antoine), 10 Rue du Petit Pont, and several 

 in the Rues de Rennes, du Bac, and du Cherche-Midi in Paris, also 

 at Nantes, Nancy, Lyons, and other cities. This is also often the case 

 in provincial hotels, such as that at Laon, whose coach entrance is 

 illustrated in Fig. 372. 



THE PALAIS BOURBON. Another type of house brought into fashion 

 by Trianon and attaining great popularity at this time, especially for 

 suburban residences, has a single storey, and a flat roof. Its most 

 sumptuous example is the Palais Bourbon (Figs. 364 and 365), now 

 partly incorporated in the Chambre des Deputes, begun by an Italian, 

 Giardini or Girardini (1722), continued by L'Assurance (1724), and 



