The Church of Saint-Laurent carries three distinct architectural campaigns in a single building. Dedicated to Saint Lawrence, a Christian martyr executed in Rome in 258 AD, the church’s early history is obscure, and the current structure began to take shape in the 15th century following the end of English occupation.
The oldest surviving fabric belongs to the Flamboyant Gothic period. The nave runs four bays deep, carried on robust piers with engaged columns that rise unbroken to the vaults and flanked by double collaterals. The choir extends over three bays, closing in a three-sided hemicycle with large windows of Flamboyant tracery.
The 17th century brought substantial alteration. The nave was reconstructed, the side aisles of the choir were added, and an oval Virgin chapel followed in the early 18th century. In 1621 a classical façade — closer in spirit to Jesuit church architecture than to the Gothic interior it fronted — was applied to the west end. From this phase survive the hanging keystones in the vaults of the nave, transept, and choir, carved with angelic figures and ornamental detail that draws on both Renaissance and Baroque vocabularies within the existing Gothic structure.
Between 1862 and 1865, under the direction of Simon-Claude Constant-Dufeux during the renovations of Napoleon III, the 17th-century classical façade was removed and replaced with a Neo-Gothic composition intended to align with the 15th-century interior. The new façade introduced a Flamboyant spire, a rose window, and a sculpture of Christ by Aimé-Napoléon Perrey — a characteristic product of the period’s investment in reimagining, rather than simply restoring, medieval architecture.
References
Gray-Durant, D. (2015) Blue Guide Paris. 12th edn. London: Somerset Books
Patrimoine & Histoire- Église Saint-Roch à Paris [online]. Available at: https://www.patrimoine-histoire.fr/Patrimoine/Paris/Paris-Saint-Laurent.htm (Accessed: 12 April 2024).