Mounted, blind-stamped on the mount Spring 1861, Charles Garnier, grand Prix de Rome in architecture, won the competition to build the new opera. Invested at the head of the construction site, he chose Delmaet & Durandelle, for documenting the work in progress since 1865. over one hundred and fifty photographs were made until unfortunately the Prussian attacked. Émile Durandelle and his wife Clémence Jacob-Delmaet eventually published a set of albums in 1876. These prints and the next lots are extremly rare pre-1870 prints given to the architects.
