A rare stereoview documenting the destruction left in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune of 1871, one of the most intensely photographed episodes of 19th-century French history. After the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris uprising of 1870–1871, later known as the Paris Commune, several photographers documented the city, focusing their work on destruction caused by the Prussian siege and on the official French buildings set on fire by the Communards. The albumen print is mounted on a bright yellow card with embossed decorative borders, characteristic of French stereoview production of the period, and no photographer's imprint appears on the mount.

The central image is dominated by a massive lattice-truss structure, its iron framework collapsed and tilted sharply downward over a row of slender iron support posts, with telegraph or suspension wires trailing from the wreckage above. Behind it, a gutted multi-story masonry building rises with its window openings blown out and interior floors visible through gaping holes in the facade. In the foreground, a man in a dark coat and top hat stands with his back to the camera surveying the scene, while two women in full skirts are visible to the left, their presence lending human scale to the devastation. Sandbags or debris are piled along a low fence line at the base of the image.

Much of central Paris was burned during the Franco-Prussian War that saw the death of the Commune, and the resulting ruins at once became a tourist attraction and the subject of remarkable photographs made for the tourist trade. Stereoviews of this subject were produced in quantity and eagerly collected, making them among the most vivid primary records of the catastrophic urban destruction of 1871.

Inscribed in ink in cursive along the right edge of the reverse, reading "Destruction du Pont..." followed by a partially legible location name; the number "5" appears in pencil at the lower left, with catalog notation "5/05/11" and "LOACB1" at the lower edge.