The Palais-Royal, one of the grandest ensembles of Second Empire Paris, is recorded here in a finely exposed albumen stereoview produced by Debitte and Hervé, the Photographic Company operating at 170, Rue de Rivoli. The firm was active as French photographers and publishers through the 1860s and 1870s. The view was made using the wet-collodion process on glass, with the positive printed on albumen paper from a collodion negative, a workflow characteristic of Parisian commercial stereo production of the period.

The façade fills both frames symmetrically: a central pavilion crowned by a low mansard dome and flagpole rises above a rusticated base, flanked by two-story colonnaded wings decorated with sculptural figures and relief medallions along the roofline. A wrought-iron fence runs the full width of the building, a double row of young trees lines the foreground pavement, and a horse-drawn carriage is visible at left. The sky is clear and the shadows are sharp, indicating a bright midday exposure.

Founded in 1799 and installed at the heart of the Palais-Royal from 1875, the Conseil d'État has long occupied the central section of the palace. The stereoview almost certainly predates that installation, capturing the Palais-Royal during the Second Empire period when it served as a royal and imperial residence before the disruptions of the Commune. A second disaster struck the Palais-Royal in May 1871, when the building was set on fire during the Commune, making views from the preceding decade particularly significant documents of the building's pre-Commune appearance.

The reverse is plain yellow card stock with pencil notations reading "2/20/10," "COLAZ," and "K." The studio imprint is printed in the vertical border bands on the recto: "Photographic Company / Debitte & Hervé, 170, Rue de Rivoli, Paris."