Facade 57 bis rue d'Orléans

Here we are in front of a very decorated façade. As you can see each part of the façade is accentuated, each level has it own balcony, all the railings are made in wrought iron with foliated scrolls patterns. On the ground floor there are different openings as doors or bull's eyes, low relief, Corinthian pilasters...

But I really think the architect wanted to put the stress on the central part of the façade.

Indeed, on the ground floor, the central part is surrounded by 4 pilasters ( on each side 2 pilasters with at first their own pedestal, and then, lower, the big stone can be a kind of 2dn pedestal and this 2dn pedestal is the same for the 2 pilasters, one pedestal for 2 pilasters) and its opening is bigger than the two others. The central opening is more important because it's a shop windows. Above the the central opening, there is a beautiful medallion, within a woman. Around the medallion the architect added flower patterns, leaf patterns and ribbon patterns. So here there are more decorations than on the side of the façade. Yes, because on the right hand and also on the left hand there are just an opening as a door, over a frieze and above the frieze a bull's eye. And a clamp gathers this 3 elements, so I find this composition with the clamp presses down the side of the façade. Whereas the composition with the pilasters raise the central part and the pilasters frame the central window so the pilasters draw our attention to the central part.

On the first floor we can see that the central window is larger than the 2 others. The central balcony has a rounded shape whereas the 2 others balconies are straighter and smaller

On the second floor the 3 windows have the same height but in order to underline the central part, the architect surmounted the central window with a pediment. The 2 other windows have just entablatures. Moreover, the 3 balconies are straight but the central balcony is really larger than the 2 others.

On the façade, all the windows have an ornamental lintel. Each window is gathered with its lintel thanks to a clamp.

Therefore, we can see that the balconies of the 2nd floor, as the entablatures of the 2nd floor are supported by little ornamental stone. But the central balcony of the 2nd floor and the pediment on the 2dn floor are supported by volutes. This decoration is more elegant than the simple piece of stone. So the volutes reinforce the central part as the main part of the façade.

The cornice is only decorated on its down part. The architect used a dice pattern with the number 5, and circle. I think he decorated just the down part because it is what we see better on the cornice. We find the dice pattern again under the 1st balconies.

So, to conclude about this façade we could say it is very decorated façade, but there is an order of decoration and the architect emphasizes the central part even if he decorated all the façade. The more elegant decorations, patterns are situated on the central part.