The gutted exterior of the Paris Hôtel de Ville is recorded here in the immediate aftermath of the fires that consumed it during the brief, violent conclusion of the Paris Commune government. The photograph is an albumen print mounted on cabinet card stock, dating to 1871 or shortly thereafter, with no photographer's imprint visible on the mount. Numerous photographic collections documenting the Commune ruins were published as early as 1871, responding to and fueling intense public curiosity.

The image presents a wide-angle, oblique view of the building's long Renaissance facade, its ornately carved stone still standing but stripped bare of rooflines and flooring above. Chimney stacks and fractured pavilion towers rise against a flat, overcast sky, while the sculptural program of niched figures along the facade walls remains largely intact amid the wreckage. Printed notices or placards are affixed to the low boundary wall running along the base of the building at street level, and the broad empty foreground plaza contributes to the desolate atmosphere.

Forced to retreat by the offensive of the Army of Versailles, the Communards abandoned the Hôtel de Ville before setting it ablaze on 24 May 1871, and the building was completely destroyed along with its archives and library. So badly damaged were the ruins that they were deemed unsalvageable, and the monument standing today is entirely new, erected between 1874 and 1882.

The reverse is inscribed in pencil at the top: "Hôtel de ville" (City Hall), with the initials "J.D." in ink below. Additional notations in pencil at the bottom read: "3 of 10 / 10/13/07 / A0CB0t / Ep."