Façade van een woonhuis in Parijs, ontworpen door Jean Louis Pascal before 1880

Lampué et Cie captured this photograph of a Parisian residence designed by Jean Louis Pascal. Consider what it meant to photograph architecture at a time of immense social change in Paris. The architecture is imposing, isn't it? You get a sense of the class and status associated with such a residence, but I wonder what that façade conceals. What stories of race, gender, and power dynamics are hidden behind those shuttered windows? It is a study of the surface, a performance of Parisian life, but perhaps it is also a commentary on the inaccessibility of the upper class to the general public. Ultimately, this photograph serves not only as a study of a building but also as a mirror, reflecting society's values and the subtle ways in which our identities are inscribed within the spaces we inhabit.