Prince Jérôme Napoléon's Pompeian style house
In 1853, architect Alfred-Nicolas Normand received a significant commission from Prince Jérôme Napoléon to build a Pompeian style house on Avenue Montaigne in Paris. Work began in 1854. The building, however, would be left abandoned after 1870, then ultimately destroyed in 1891. Today, the monumental Hôtel de Porgès stands on the same site where it once stood. With designer Charles Rossigneux (1818-1907), work began on the Avenue Montaigne site with the fine arts pavilion for the 1855 World's Fair. This massive project was completed between 1856 and 1860 and, in 1858, a true palace was erected there in a Neo-Greco architectural style conceived by the prince as a gift for his friend and actress, Rachel. This mansion had an arcade, an atrium with a pool in the centre and private apartments surrounding a courtyard.
