Saint-Eustache, Paris

The church of Saint-Eustache anchors the eastern end of the former market district with walls that rise to the height of a cathedral. Its stone facade displays a mix of gothic verticality and renaissance ornament, topped by a heavy, square tower that remains visibly unfinished. Construction dragged on for over a century, beginning in fifteen thirty-two. When King Louis the Fourteenth received his first communion here, the building was still surrounded by the chaotic stalls and open-air chaos of the old central market.