The Model House
October 2023
The architectural history of the Model House reveals a Versailles residence closely linked to the Church of Saint‑Louis and to Louis XV.
From a royal grant to Léonard Bréant
In 1686, Louis XIV granted plot no. 722 of the Versailles land register to Bertrand de Magontier. This strip of land, measuring 11 toises along the rue des Tournelles (about 21 metres), remained undeveloped for several decades. Sold in 1703 and again in 1710, it was described as a “plot enclosed by walls” before a first building appeared in 1721.
Seven years later, Léonard Bréant, a Versailles timber merchant, acquired the entire property and “had it newly built.” By 1760, the house consisted of a double‑depth structure facing both street and courtyard, with seven windows per floor and access through a carriage gateway. The building rose above cellars and a ground floor, with two main storeys, a panelled third level, and was crowned by “à la française” slate roofs, a typical feature of eighteenth‑century Versailles architecture.
When the royal architect settled in Versailles
On 8 May 1742, Louis XV entrusted Jacques Hardouin‑Mansart de Sagonne, grandson of the famous Jules Hardouin‑Mansart, with the construction of the Church of Saint‑Louis in Versailles. By August of the same year, the architect had moved into the first floor of 8 rue des Tournelles.
There he created a representational apartment of eight rooms. The large street‑facing cabinet, where he would receive the king, displayed the portrait of his illustrious grandfather and a bronze figure of Louis XV. Mansart de Sagonne lived and worked there until 1754.
The day Louis XV came to rue des Tournelles
On 12 June 1743, after laying the first stone of the Church of Saint‑Louis with a silver trowel and hammer—which he then offered to the architect—Louis XV visited the house to admire the stone model of the future church.
Under a shed erected in the courtyard or garden, Mansart de Sagonne had built a model at a scale of 4 inches 8 lines per toise. The king was able to enter the model standing upright, examine both the interior and exterior in detail, and then visit the architect’s cabinet to study the drawings.
Maintained on the property for several years, this remarkable model gave the house its enduring name: the “Model House.”
Architectural evolution
The original arrangement—two full storeys beneath a traditional French roof—typical of eighteenth‑century Versailles architecture, remained unchanged until the Restoration.
The present building still preserves the seven bays established by Léonard Bréant, but it reflects a nineteenth‑century elevation: a third full storey on the rue des Tournelles side, a mansard level on the courtyard side, and a zinc roof. The uniform façade rendering, wooden shutters, and cast‑iron railings all date from this transformation.
