Exterior view

Chalgrin’s church in the new residential quarter to the west of Paris quite simply appeared as a Greek temple, with nave and apse in the form of a paleo-Christian basilica. The architect placed the base of the pediment on the same level as the cornice of the two lateral masses. This fa�ade - a typical temple frontispiece - rendered obsolete the standard design developed by Fran�ois Mansart a century earlier; edifices with columned porticoes became common.