European dwellings in the Middle Ages were often built using the half-timbered construction method. The frame of the building was timber (mainly oak) and filled with wattle and daub or brick and then whitewashed. The dwellings are called half-timbered because the exposed timber used for framing was split in half. Most have brown wood and some are painted different colors over the whitewash. 
Although the earliest surviving half-timbered French buildings date from the 12th century, there are few dwellings left in Paris with this type of construction. The reasons they have disappeared, obviously, are the risk of fire and possible collapse of the old buildings.
The dwellings in the first photo (there are three built at the beginning of the 14th century) are located on la rue Fancois-Miron at the edge of the Marais. They are typical of domestic Medieval architecture found all over northern Europe and have been restored. The second and third photos were taken on the Left Bank, a block from the Seine across from Notre-Dame.
