Restoration of the facades of the model house in Versailles
- manceaumarie
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
February 2025
What was thought lost has reappeared at 8 rue des Tournelles. The Versailles residence of Jacques Hardouin‑Mansart de Sagonne — architect of Saint‑Louis Cathedral and grandson of Jules Hardouin‑Mansart — has revealed an unsuspected past. He lived there from 1742 to 1754, and it was in the courtyard of this house, nicknamed the “Maison du Modèle,” that Louis XV examined on 8 May 1742 the stone model of the future cathedral after the laying of its first stone.
Atelier d’Architecture Antoine de Gironde is acting as project manager for this restoration, which has been awarded the Fondation du Patrimoine label. Nearly three centuries later, careful removal of the render uncovered an 18th‑century ashlar façade, finely dressed and concealed since the Restoration.
This delicate work brought several remarkable features to light:
An exceptional stone dressing, with ochre and brick‑red coloured joints and traditional wooden wedges.
A clearly legible upper string course, revealing the façade’s original height.
A full understanding of the 19th‑century transformation: an added storey, tooling of the stone, and the application of a neo‑classical decorative render.
These discoveries raised a key question: should the dressed stone façade be reinstated, or should the neo‑classical decorative layer be retained?
In consultation with the Maison de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, we chose an approach that respects the building’s multiple historic layers. The decision was to restore the neo‑classical decoration while allowing the faces of the un‑tooled stone to remain visible within the plane of the render. To recover the original stone colour in the renders, a fragment was taken and analysed in collaboration with a local plaster manufacturer. Finally, the famed “château yellow” of the carriage‑house door — a trace of Louis XV’s visit — was found beneath several paint layers and has been reinstated.
To discover is to make decisions about what we pass on. Revealing a buried past is an exercise in balancing memory, coherence and feeling.
