FAÇADE OF THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE OVERLOOKING THE GARDENS. (May 1919)
Hôtel-de-Ville
As one of the lofty windows bears the date 1623, the popular belief that the building was erected by the famous Governor Marillac is unfounded. It is possible, however, that tradition, according to which Marillac sheltered Marie de Médicis there, after her flight from Paris, is founded on fact.
It is a fine structure in the Medicis style. The façade which overlooks the garden resembles that of the Luxembourg in Paris in some of its lines.
At the side of the Hôtel-de-Ville, at No. 19, is the house of M. Clément.
MAIN ENTRANCE (REBUILT) TO THE ABBEY OF ST. VANNE,
IN THE COURT OF NO. 19 RUE DE L’HÔTEL-DE-VILLE
A learned amateur, Monsieur Clément, who was killed during the bombardments of 1916, had collected a considerable number of fragments of the Abbey of St. Vanne and rebuilt the principal doorway of the latter (see [p. 52]) in the courtyard of his house. The famous door of the Capitulary Room, described and drawn by Viollet-le-Duc, was of curious 13th-century design. The lintel of the tympanum was ornamented with foliage, which is an interesting peculiarity, as the sculptural decoration of the tympanums of doors was very rare at that time in civil architecture.
