Colombage: Why Timber Houses Are Rare in Paris

Continue east along Rue François Miron, just a right turn as you leave Rue des Barres. After a few steps, you'll spot another house that looks obviously old. With its timber structure showing on the outside, it is a classic piece of medieval architecture known as colombage, or half-timbering. A colombage house is built with a wooden frame, with the gaps filled by stone, earth, plaster, brick, or similar materials.

Timber buildings are especially hard to find in Paris. As mentioned earlier, part of the reason is that many buildings were demolished and rebuilt during the great 19th-century renovation, but the Great Fire of London in 1666 also played a part. The fire started on September 2, 1666, in a bakery, then spread across London and burned for five days, reducing the entire city to ashes. England had many wooden houses at the time, so the damage was devastating; reportedly, 70,000 of the city's 80,000 residents lost their homes. Shaken by the fire, France banned the construction of timber houses in Paris the following year, 1667, and coated the walls of existing timber buildings with lime and gypsum plaster to prevent fires.

This medieval building on Rue François Miron has been restored several times, which is how its timber structure came to be exposed again.