St Genevieve Library

Paris, France
The St. Genevieve Library in the place du Pantheon, Paris, was designed in 1843 by Henri Labrouste (1801 1875) and built between 1844 and 1851. It is the first public building to have a frankly exposed structural iron frame. Wrought iron and cast iron, used to great structural and esthetic effect in engineering works since the late eighteenth century, were still widely regarded as unsuitable for legitimate architecture (except for decorative details like balustrades or ornamental hardware), simply because the classical and medieval styles that informed contemporary design provided no precedent for the manner of their use. That was despite their many advantages: they were incredibly strong in compression, noncombustible, and inexpensive; moreover, they could be prefabricated and mechanically fixed, thus avoiding wet work