Saint-Sulpice, Paris

The two unequal stone towers of Saint-Sulpice dominate the square, though they reveal a distinct architectural disagreement. The north tower remains unfinished, lacking the balustrades that crown its southern twin. Jean-Nicolas Servandoni, the architect who designed the grand facade, fought with the church vestry for years over the project. When he died in seventeen sixty-six, the vestry abandoned his original vision for the matching towers, leaving the skyline of the Saint-Germain neighborhood with this permanent, asymmetrical silhouette.