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- Before 1800
- 1801-1850
- 1851-1914
- 1915-1939
- 1940-1967
- 1968-1975
- 1976-1981
- 1982-1989
- 1990-1999
- 2000-2007
- After 2008
Paris Building Footprint, Apur
The Medieval Period (1100-1526). Most surviving medieval architecture in France is religious. By the 1100s, three unique engineering improvements (pointed arches, cross vaults, and flying buttresses) appeared in Paris and France and created a new, Gothic style.
The Renaissance (1515-1643). With Francis I, the Renaissance arrived in Paris with a bang. Renaissance ideas insisted on a sense of human proportion in all the arts, including architecture.
French Baroque and Classicism (17th Century). The style’s emphasis on grand floor plans, superhuman massive figures, and the illusion of infinite distance.
Rococo (1715-1774). The word “Rococo” is believed to be a combination of the French words for grotto rock (“rocaille”) and shell (“coquille”); the sinuous line of grottoes and shells were imitated as ornamentation in this style.
Neo-Classicism (late 18th- to early 19th-century). After the frivolous and light-filled Rococo, buildings were pared back to classical symmetry. As the doomed reign of Louis XVI began, Paris entered a period of Neo-classicism.
Consulate, Empire, and Restoration
The Revolution devastated Paris and the city’s architecture suffered alongside its people. The Napoleonic style is a mishmash of Neo-classic impulses. Classical references pleased Napoleon, since they suited his ambitions for an expanding Empire. He wisely set up massive building projects to keep Parisians employed, and his largest urban projects shaped today’s city. He started construction on Père Lachaise cemetery, had parts of the Tuileries and the Louvre rebuilt, began the Madeleine, and ordered the Ourq Canal dug. He also ordained that streets should be numbered odd on one side, even on the other, a remarkably practical concept that hadn’t occurred to anyone before.
Napoleon’s most important architectural contribution wasn’t stylistic but practical: under his reign, 21,000 new Parisian apartment buildings were constructed. His death in 1824 unleashed a period of great unrest. People who remembered the Revolution wondered if it was going to happen again. But the Industrial Revolution was gradually changing the economic structure of Paris, and Louis-Philippe, the sucessor, attempted to establish an Orleans architectural style, but his reign was too short to have a major impact. He is responsible for finishing the Madeleine Church, along with the Galerie des Batailles in Versailles.
The Haussmann renovations under the Second Empire & the early Third Republic
In 1848, French politics were once again in disarray, Paris was in revolt, and Louis Napoleon seized his chance. In 1851, he seized power in a coup d’etat and a year later became Emperor Napoleon III. His dream had become reality. But his capital city was a wreck; by 1853, the city’s population had skyrocketed to over 1 million. Only one house in five had any running water; of these, most only had plumbing on the ground floor.
By sheer luck, Napoleon found the perfect man for the job in Baron Georges Eugène Haussmann. Haussmann understood the desperate need to reorganize the city and succeeded in turning Paris into a functioning Imperial city despite an incredibly short period of control. The Hôtel de Ville, symbol of Haussmann’s power, was set on fire by an enraged mob. Yet, Haussmann is the most enduring and successful city planner Paris has ever known. His apartment buildings remain the Parisian standard, his sewage system still works, and his reorganization of city boulevards has allowed Paris traffic to creep into the 21st century. The city’s beauty, with its splendid London-inspired Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, remains the sole truly great accomplishment of Napoleon III.
Art Deco and the Modern Movement
At the end of World War I, a new aesthetic began to bubble up in Paris. Art Deco first appeared in Paris and reached its greatest heights in New York during the 20s and 30s. World War II put an end to Art Deco’s optimism; the less-flamboyant lines of pure Modernism took over. But at the beginning, in the 1920s in Paris, the two styles overlapped, particularly in private houses designed in newly-developing residential areas of Paris such as Boulogne and Montsouris.
There was a housing boom all over the city, especially at its edges. The city wall of Adolphe Thiers, built in 1851 and made obsolete soon afterwards when the city limits were changed by Haussmann, was finally completely demolished after World War I. The new empty space was quickly filled with housing projects, many of them government-sponsored and built of brick. The new housing was influenced by the sharp angles and setbacks of Art Deco, with decorative brickwork and intelligent layouts. These brick buildings became known as “the red belt,” because they were brick-colored and inhabited by socialist workers, in a belt at the edge of the city.
Post War through the Seventies
These years are often seen as a disaster for French architecture, in particular the destruction of Les Halles in central Paris. But even after ripping out the guts of the city, one phoenix rose from the ruins. Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers created the superb Centre Georges Pompidou on the square that had once been Les Halles’ parking lot. The brightly-hued building changed the course of European architecture which its concept pushes all the utilities and services to the outside of the building in order to free up enormous exhibition spaces within. It has a delightful feeling of fun, its purpose-coded colors sparkling again after its 2000 renovation.
Although the Pompidou stands out radically from its neighbours because of its style, its height isn’t much taller than others as Paris remains largely 8-stories high. To keep taller buildings from ruining the skyline, a sort of architectural apartheid was introduced. While low-rise Paris remained pristine, skyscrapers were sent to La Defense, a futuristic suburb just beyond the Arc de Triomphe. The first 1964 plan was criticised for being dull; the second plan with much higher and more dramatic buildings was approved in 1968. This business-oriented suburb covers about 1,000 hectares; today, some of the towers are beautiful, some ugly, and construction continues, always carefully planned.
Contemporary, 1980 to Present
In the 1980s, President Mitterrand unveiled a new architectural concept to move Paris into the next millennium. His “grands travaux” brought both praise and horror as they evolved, but no one can deny that the final result is a renewed and thrillingly diverse city. Mitterrand is responsible for commissioning the Grand Louvre’s new glass pyramid entrance (created by I.M. Pei), the move of the Ministry of Finance into a new building (designed by Paul Chemetov), the Grande Arche de la Defense (by Von Spreckelsen), the Cité de la Musique (by Pritzer-prize winner Christian de Portzamparc), the Institut du Monde Arabe (by Jean Nouvel), the Opera Bastille (by the less-accomplished Carlos Ott), and the new library (by Dominique Perrault), now named after the grand master puppeteer himself as the Bibliotèque François-Mitterrand. Not all of these buildings were successful (the Opera Bastille stands out as a particular blot on the landscape), but overall, Mitterrand’s desire to make Paris a contemporary architectural star turned out to be a resounding success.