Saint-Louis Chapel, Paris

The Saint-Louis Chapel features a stark, restrained facade that stands out amidst the dense, ornate stone architecture of the Seventh Arrondissement. Built in the seventeen nineties as part of the surrounding hospital complex, it served the spiritual needs of soldiers and their families. During the French Revolution, the building faced immediate threats of destruction, yet a local administrator successfully argued for its conversion into a simple storehouse for medical supplies, which kept the structure intact while the surrounding neighborhood saw its religious symbols demolished.