430 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



large number of hotels and smaller town houses of considerable merit. 

 While these lack the ingratiating charm of their predecessors, they 

 surpass them in structural appropriateness ; they are always dignified, 

 and the larger ones have great, if frigid, majesty. As population 

 increased, the old hotel plan, with only low buildings towards the street, 

 became rarer and, in general, street fronts ran to greater height, and 

 include four, five, or even more storeys. 



PALAIS ROYAL. The Palais Royal, at that time the town residence 

 of the Dukes of Orleans, underwent a restoration which amounted to 

 a rebuilding (1763-70) after the fire which destroyed its opera house. 

 The architect for the southern court and new opera, both on the Rue 

 St Honore, was Louis Pierre Moreau Desproux (1727-93). Pierre 

 Contant d'lvry (1698-1777) had already begun alterations to the inner 

 court (1758). The transitional character of his earlier work there has 

 already been alluded to ; the north fagade of the main block, which 

 is also his, has the characteristic detail of Louis XVI. work without 

 its repose. Moreau's work towards the " place " is treated with better 

 taste and in a quieter manner, more in harmony with the detail. 

 As at Compiegne the two wings are connected by an open screen. 

 A further addition to the Palais Royal belongs perhaps rather to the 



domain of town planning 

 than to that of palatial 

 architecture. The garden 

 at the back of the palace 

 had gradually become 

 surrounded by houses. 

 The Duke of Orleans 

 caused galleries to be 

 built round the garden, 

 inside these houses, so 

 as to give them a uniform 

 facade, and this was done 

 in the teeth of strenuous 

 opposition on the part of 

 the occupiers (1781-6). 

 Victor Louis (1731-1800) 

 was the architect. He 

 perhaps felt that the 

 adoption of a giant order 

 was imposed on him by 

 the extreme length of the 

 facades to be treated, 

 but it proved rather an 

 unmanageable device 





409. CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX : HOUSE. 



