Roof and attic structure of a building in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

This model is a painstakingly precise reproduction of the monumental attic of a building demolished during the winter of 1874 to create the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Its structure, ‘à la Philibert de l’Orme’, was named after the architect who was the first to publish this construction principle in the late 16th century. This original roof structure was probably constructed around 1800, after the rediscovery of this type of weight-bearing structure of small pieces of timber, reinvented and popularised by the cupola of the Halles aux Blés designed by Legrand and Molinos in 1783. This roof is in fact composed of two structures: the ‘de l’Orme’ roof and the original polygonal attic floor structure. This model and the four accompanying plans are the work of the Parisian joiner and schoolteacher Beloni Minard, who also made the models of the domes of Les Invalides (inv. 10969) and the Institut de France (inv. 11757) that were part of the same educational and artistic project shown at the Universal Exposition in 1889.