Great's palace in the country near Berlin.] and I especially
desire that it may be an agreeable palace rather than a handsome
garden,--two conditions which are incompatible. Let there be
something between a court and a garden, like the Tuileries, that
from my apartments I may promenade in the garden and the park, as at
Saint-Cloud, though Saint-Cloud has the inconvenience of having no
park for the household.

It is necessary also to study the location, so that my apartments
may face north and south, in order that I may change my residence
according to the season.

I wish the apartments I occupy to be as handsomely furnished as my
small apartments at Fontainebleau.

I wish my apartments to be very near those of the Empress, and on
the same floor.

Finally, I wish a palace that would be comfortable for a
convalescent, or for a man as age approaches. I wish a small
theater, a small chapel, etc.; and above all great care should be
taken that there be no stagnant water around the palace."


The Emperor carried his passion for building to excess, and seemed more
active, more eager in the execution of his plans, and more tenacious of
his ideas, than any architect I have ever known. Nevertheless, the idea
of putting the palace of the King of Rome on the heights of Chaillot was
not entirely his own, and M. Fontaine might well claim to have originated
it.