Église Saint-Augustin

The Church of Saint-Augustin rises above the Place Saint-Augustin with a visible iron skeleton that defies the traditional stone masonry of Paris. Designed by Victor Baltard in the eighteen sixties, it stands as one of the first major buildings to use a metal frame to support such a massive vaulted space. During construction, the workers had to navigate the erratic, triangular plot left over by Baron Haussmann’s urban renovations. One day, a crane operator accidentally dropped a heavy beam through the partially finished roof.