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Fontaine des Quatre Paves



Fontaine des Quatre Paves is an 18th-century water-storage building on the Carre a la Fontaine in Versailles, France. Water piped from the Gobert Ponds near the drinking trough at the top of the Avenue de Sceaux flowed by gravity into the upper reservoir of the structure. The ground floor formed an open arcade supporting the reservoir room above which supplied basins at street level where animals could drink. The heavy beams that once carried the reservoir remain visible today.

The current windows and doors differ entirely from the original facade. The south entrance was originally a single door, and the attic openings were simple shuttered vents rather than glazed windows. The present joinery — patio doors and rectangular windows — is a 20th-century pastiche of 18th-century forms, designed by architect Jean-Claude Rochette in the late 1960s. During this renovation, the internal reservoir was demolished and the building was converted into offices for the City of Versailles' housing department. - AsNotedIn


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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1766/00/00 A hollow reservoir building is erected under engineer Pluyette's hand, its concealed channels supplying four stone basins tucked beneath the arcades, where animals pause to drink in the shelter of the vaulted passage.

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