The Château de Maisons Laffitte overlooks the Seine via a gently sloping formal garden. It comprises a central body flanked by 2 wings. A symmetrical appearance we think we're familiar with: the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, where the city's arrondissement town halls are built on the same model. Posterity has trivialized the image. Yet Maisons was a revolution in French château architecture. It is the masterpiece of a genius architect, François Mansart. A prototype that provides a magnificent lesson in architecture ...