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To the second edition of his book (1647) Le Muet added plans and elevations of a few very grand hôtels which were built. These include the Hôtel d'Avaux in the Rue du Temple which has emerged from its recent restoration as one of the finest seventeenth-century houses surviving in Paris. The visitor enters through a door set in a lightly rusticated concave bay and finds himself in a large court articulated on all four sides by giant Corinthian pilasters. The effect is one of extreme grandeur, foreshadowing the work of the next generation of architects.
Disfigured at the Revolution, the building was transformed into a borough hall from 1795 to 1823. After ther restoration it now houses the museum dedicated to the art and history of Judaism.
The photo shows the court.
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