Five Hundred Buildings of Paris

AUTHOR’S NOTE

“Five hundred buildings?” my architect friend asked. “How can I get an assignment like that?”

Other friends also salivated at the idea of writing about five hundred Paris buildings and immediately began offering resources and suggestions.

Armed with everyone’s recommendations and my own passion for art and architecture, I traipsed off to Paris with a different perspective: looking up, while simultaneously watching my step. (Parisians love their dogs as much as their buildings.)

Creating a list and wading through layers of architecture and history to write about that many buildings inevitably required the assistance of many people along the way. First and foremost, I cannot find enough superlatives to describe the immeasurable ways Gaël Lesterlin contributed to this book. His expertise, guidance, research, fact-checking, list review, encouragement, and tireless efforts were invaluable. As an architect and Ph.D. candidate in the history of architecture, his passion for exploring the history behind the façades was contagious and affected me in ways I could not anticipate. I appreciate his insight, dedication, friendship, and good humor in cheering me on and seeing this project to conclusion. Thanks to Florence Lloyd, Claude Baudez, and Basile Baudez whose cumulative recommendations led me to Gaël.

Next, Thirza Vallois, author of the Around and About Paris guides and Romantic Paris, deserves special mention for her initial interest and her expert knowledge of the city, along with my thanks for wandering the Parisian streets with me. Her guides, chock full of history, are among the many sources I consulted for information.

My thanks also go to Karyn Marcus. Her sustained enthusiasm and early background work on the book were essential to its success. Her numerous suggestions, contacts, translations, and organizational ability aided me in creating and researching the initial list. Our walks through the city knew no bounds and increased our camaraderie. And I’d like to extend our mutual thanks to Jean Connehaye for his support of the project and list review. He lent his time and expertise, as well as his valuable research books; chief among these was the excellent Dictionnaire Historique des rues de Paris by Jacques Hillairet. For all of Mr. Connehaye’s efforts, I am sincerely grateful. Our additional thanks for consultation go to Julia Trilling and Olivier Amat.

Ultimately, the text drew inspiration from the photographic artistry of Jorg Brockmann and James Driscoll. Adept at finding frequently difficult addresses and weaving their way through narrow streets, they brought their creative vision to each of the five hundred buildings in the book.

To all of my family and friends at home, thanks for your encouragement and patience while I disappeared to explore Paris. My special thanks and love to my son, Josh, who helped research literary references when needed and reviewed numerous paragraphs before I submitted them.

Finally, my appreciation extends to J.P. Leventhal for his faith in me and the opportunity to contribute to this book, as well as to Laura Ross for her editorial guidance, encouragement, and gentle pressure throughout the writing process. My thanks also to the staff and freelancers of Black Dog & Leventhal for their efforts, especially Dara Lazar, Sheila Hart, Iris Bass, True Sims, and Magali Veillon.

KATHY BORRUS

PHOTOGRAPHERS’ NOTES

I’d like to dedicate this book to the memory of Alain Colomb, my father-in-law, a man of great courage and integrity, and to Aline; to my wife Celine, my kids Leo and Sasha, my grandmother Oma Lisa, and above all, to my parents, who moved to Paris in 1970, as a young couple, and brought us up there. They are responsible for my love of the city.

After spending the last decade in New York, I was able to approach Paris with a fresh eye. I was eager to rediscover a city that I had known from a comfortable, day-to-day perspective: the traffic hassles, the noise, the agitation. (I had found that when I shot the photographs for One Thousand New York Buildings I wanted to reduce these extraneous factors to a minimum to allow readers to concentrate on the essence of each building.) I will never forget the weekend when the center of the city was closed to traffic. Walking through the streets without the fear of getting run over, and the unusual quietness, afforded me a unique perspective.

I did not approach Paris with an idealized, romantic vision. The work remains first and foremost a factual record. And yet, through choices of perspective, framing, and the time of day that I took the shot, each photograph takes on a mood or quality of its own. When photographing restaurants, it often seemed more interesting to portray the interior, where the history of the place had unfolded.

For those interested in the technical side of things, all of the photographs in this book were shot with a Sinar F2 4 x 5 camera shooting Agfa APX 100 film.

I would like to extend my thanks, first, to my collaborator, James Driscoll; to my assistants, Fanny Dupont and Matteo Venet; and to Nicolas Spuhler of the Geneva-based lab Actinic, for their hard work and enthusiasm. I am grateful to Maryvonne Deleau at the Mairie of Paris for helping me get access to certain sites; to Catherine and Michel Devos and Francoise and Philip Proust for lodging, and to Marie Françoise Deslandes, Alain Bled, and Jean Connehaye for their help. Congratulations to Kathy Borrus for her thorough research and writing job. My gratitude also goes to the whole team at Black Dog and Leventhal, especially to J.P. Leventhal, for giving me the opportunity to take on this project. Thanks to Laura Ross, my editor, for her strong (moral and practical) support, and to True Sims and Dara Lazar for their painstaking efforts on this complex undertaking. Thanks also to Thomas Palmer, a master separator, and to Sheila Hart for completing the design equivalent of the Rubik’s Cube with great style and good cheer.

Dear reader, enjoy this walk through Paris!

JORG BROCKMANN

The year 2002 was an interesting one in my life: it was the year that I became the archetypal “American in Paris.” I’m sure I’ll look back on it later in life with much joy and humor.

My journey to shoot this book was the first time this “New York Boy” had ever left the USA, and I have to admit that I had my reservations. I tend to have a bad attitude about places other than the five boroughs of New York City—but being in France turned out to be a very enlightening experience.

After living and working in Paris for four months, I can say that most of the stereotypes about the city and its residents are untrue. Sure, I ran into some rudeness but what city is free of it? What I did find was a beautiful city that is rich with history, pride, and old-world ways of life. I believe that the buildings and structures of Paris reflect the pride that Parisians have always felt about their city. It was this quality that I tried to capture in my photographs.

My work on this book was completed with the assistance and support of many people. I begin by thanking my family for all the encouragement they have given my photography over the years. I must offer grateful thanks to friend and photographer Mike Falco, who first put a camera in my hands and was always there with advice and support when I needed it most. Deep thanks to fellow photographer Jorg Brockmann for seeing in me what I now see—it was his eye and ability that inspired me throughout this project. Thanks to Ursula Jaroszewicz, for her years of help and love. A humongous thanks must go to J.P Leventhal, Laura Ross, True Sims, and Dara Lazar of Black Dog & Leventhal, who dreamed up this book and supported our work on it. Thanks to the people at Fotocare in New York City, Le Grand Format in Paris, and Arnie Duren of Brooklyn Camera Exchange for their help on the technical side. Thanks to our Paris assistants, Fanny Dupont and Matteo Venet, for their invaluable help in navigating the streets of Paris and for being my two best friends during my time in Paris, and gratitude to the Devos family for allowing me to use their apartment as a base of operations during my stay. Author Kathy Borrus, designer Sheila Hart, and separator Thomas Palmer must be commended for the skill and creativity they have brought to the project.

Last and certainly not least, I would like to thank my wife-to-be, Stacy Lucas, for the time she took out of her life to take care of mine, and for being my main inspiration on this wonderful project. Without her love and support, my work on it would not have been possible.

JAMES DRISCOLL

ÎLE DE LA CITÉ

Two hundred and fifty years before Julius Caesar pulled up to shore and camped on Île de la Cité in 53 B.C., a Celtic tribe known as Parisii (boat people) occupied the island and the land on both its banks, and cruised the waters of the Seine in lucrative trading. They called the land Lutetia, which meant “boatyard on the water.” Caesar expanded his empire by crushing a Parisii rebellion, and the Romans renamed their settlement Lutetia Parisiorum. They rebuilt the town, walled it off, and constructed a temple to Jupiter and Caesar on the site of the future Notre-Dame cathedral. They also built bridges to connect the banks, and the city spread outward from Île de la Cité through centuries of struggle and warfare, bombardment and occupation. Christianity intervened, then the Franks invaded, and Charlemagne ruled benevolently from afar but encouraged trade and commerce. Enter the Vikings in the ninth century. Their repeated sackings caused a retreat to the island as the outlying areas were not defensible. In the twelfth century, the Knights Templer assumed control and Bishop Maurice de Sully began construction on Notre-Dame.

The French monarchy developed and took command in reaction to the repeated Viking incursions and the lack of effective action by the foreign rulers: Governor Hugh Capet ascended the throne and made Paris his capital; Île de la Cité became the site of his home, where now stands the Palais de Justice. Philip II occupied the medieval palace complex that today includes Sainte-Chapelle. He developed Paris into being the center of what was considered Europe during the Middle Ages, and expanded the old Roman wall around the island and beyond. Medieval life on Île de la Cité was a tangled web of streets and markets and buildings. By the mid–nineteenth century, when Napoléon III named George Haussmann his prefect of Paris and placed him in charge of urban renewal, life on the island had deteriorated: Streets were narrow, twisted, and filthy—crowded and squalid. Haussmann engineered new routes, widening streets and razing old buildings. The result of his tinkering left Notre-Dame with breathing room, while opening the door to a twentieth-century maze of tourist buses. Essentially, he created modern Paris. Though its actual administration was divided into the first and fourth arrondissements, Île de la Cité is its heart.

1
Notre-Dame de Paris

PLACE DU PARVIS—NOTRE-DAME
c. 1160, ORIGINAL ARCHITECTS UNKNOWN; c. 1250–58, JEAN DE CHELLES; SECOND HALF OF THIRTEENTH CENTURY, PIERRE DE MONTREUIL; 1296–1325, PIERRE DE CHELLES AND JEAN RAVY; 1699–1715, ROBERT DE COTTE, CHOIR DECORATION; 1728–29, GERMAIN BOFFRAND, CROSSING VAULT REBUILT AND RESTORATION; 1841–64, RESTORATION OVERSIGHT BY JEAN-BAPTISTE LASSUS AND EUGÈNE VIOLLET-LE-DUC

2
Place Dauphine

WEST TIP OF ÎLE DE LA CITÉ
1607–19, ATTRIBUTED TO LOUIS MÉTEZEAU

3
Palais de Justice

4, BOULEVARD DU PALAIS
1776–83, JOSEPH-ABEL COUTURE, PIERRE DESMAISONS, JACQUES-DENIS ANTOINE, COUR DU MAI SIDE

4
La Conciergerie

1, QUAI DE LA CORSE
1296–1313, ENGUERRAND DE MARGINY

5
Tribunal de Commerce

3, QUAI DE LA CORSE
1860–65, ANTOINE-NICHOLAS BAILLY

6
Préfecture de Police

7, BOULEVARD DU PALAIS AT RUE DE LUTÈCE
1862-65, VICTOR CALLIAT

7
Sainte-Chapelle

4, BOULEVARD DU PALAIS
1241–48, ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE DE MONTREUIL, THOMAS DE CORMONT, OR ROBERT DE LUZARCHES

8
Pont-Neuf

9
Pont des Arts

10
One, rue des Chantres

AT 1–3, RUE DES URSINS
1958, FERNAND POUILLON

11
Hôtel-Dieu

1, PLACE DU PARVIS NOTRE-DAME
1864–74, JACQUES GILBERT; 1874–77, STANISLAS DIET

12
Buildings on quai aux Fleurs

1769, PIERRE-LOUIS MOREAU

1^ST ARRONDISSEMENT

Grand squares, ancient buildings, and modern additions all shape this royal arrondissement. The sweeping vista of water, sky, and greenery includes Pont-Neuf and place Dauphine on the tip of Île de la Cité, and extends north from the Seine, encompassing the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. World-renowned since its twelfth-century origins through I. M. Pei’s bold, twentieth-century glass pyramid addition, the Louvre was a royal residence long before it evolved into a museum. Nearby, the revitalized gardens of Palais-Royal—former private home of Cardinal Richelieu —also represent the area’s regal heritage, as well as its common roots as a place of revelry. At the eastern edge of the first arrondissement, Forum des Halles—a subterranean shopping mall—replaced Paris’s medieval food market, Les Halles, razed in 1969, and is a modern reminder of those rousing days and nights.

Running straight through the old city, rue de Rivoli became an elegant nineteenth-century showcase for both its homogenous frontage and the arcaded galleries behind the façades. To its north, on the western end, the elegant place Vendôme remains true to its pre-Revolutionary, aristocratic origins with stately architecture. Haute couture houses developed here and around the royal square of place des Victoires and on rue Saint-Honoré, catering to the needs of the nobility. Today, upscale fashion houses still reign here.

13
Louvre

BETWEEN RUE DE RIVOLI AND QUAI DU LOUVRE, ENTRANCE COUR NAPOLÉON
1190, CONSTRUCTION; 1528, PIERRE LESCOT AND JEAN GOUJON, PALACE (COUR CARRÉE); 1624, JACQUES LEMERCIER, ADDITIONS; 1654, LOUIS LE VAU, ADDITIONAL WORK; 1668, CLAUDE PERRAULT, COLONNADE; 1804–48, CHARLES PERCIER AND PIERRE-FRANÇOIS-LÉONARD FONTAINE; 1852–53, LOUIS-TULLIUS-JOACHIM VISCONTI; 1853–80, HECTOR-MARTIN LEFUEL; 1984–93, IEOH MING PEI, PYRAMID

14
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

PLACE DU CARROUSEL, BETWEEN LOUVRE AND TUILERIES GARDENS
1806–08, CHARLES PERCIER AND PIERRE-FRANÇOIS-LÉONARD FONTAINE

15
Musée du Jeu de Paume

TUILERIES GARDENS, RUE DE RIVOLI SIDE AT RUE DE RIVOLI
1861, 1991, ANTOINE STINCO, RENOVATION

16
Fontaine de la Croix-du-Trahoir

111, RUE SAINT-HONORÉ, CORNER OF RUE DE L’ARBRE-SEC
1776, JACQUES-GERMAIN SOUFFLOT

17
Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois

2, PLACE DU LOUVRE AT RUE DE L’ARBRE
TWELFTH–SIXTEENTH CENTURIES, 1754, CLAUDE BACCARIT, INSIDE TRANSFORMATIONS; 1838–55, JEAN-BAPTISTE LASSUS AND VICTOR BALTARD, RESTORATION

18
La Samaritaine Department Store

75, RUE DE RIVOLI, BETWEEN RUE DE LA MONNAIE AND RUE DE L’ARBRE
1905, FRANTZ JOURDAIN, 1926–28, FRANTZ JOURDAIN AND HENRI SAUVAGE, EXTENTION

19
15, rue du Louvre

AT RUE SAINT-HONORÉ
1889, HENRI BLONDEL

20
32, rue du Louvre and 112, rue Saint-Honoré

c. 1900

21
Oratoire du Louvre

4, RUE DE L’ORATOIRE
1621–30, CLÉMENT MÉTEZEAU II & JACQUES LEMERCIER

22
Au Chien qui Fume

33, RUE DU PONT-NEUF AT RUE SAINT-HONORÉ
1854

23
Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles

92, RUE SAINT-DENIS AT BOULEVARD SÉBASTOPOL
1319, NAVE; 1611, SIDE AISLES AND CHOIR; 1858–61, REWORKED BY VICTOR BALTARD

24
Théâtre du Chatelet

1, PLACE DU CHÂTELET AT AVENUE VICTORIA
1860–62, GABRIEL DAVIOUD

25
Cador

2, RUE DE L’ADMIRAL DE COLIGNY AT 30, QUAI DE LOUVRE
1853

26
Pharamond

24, RUE DE LA GRANDE TRUANDERIE AT RUE PIERRE LESCOT
1879; c. 1900, PICARD AND CIE, INTERIOR REDECORATION

27
La Potée des Halles

3, RUE ETIENNE-MARCEL AT BOULEVARD DE SÉBASTOPOL
c. 1900

28
Forum des Halles

RUE PIERRE-LESCOT, BETWEEN RUE BERGER AND RUE RAMBUTEAU
1853–74, VICTOR BALTARD, LES HALLES; 1835, ADDITIONS; 1979–88, C. VASCONI AND G. PENCRÉACH, FORUM DES HALLES;
C. AND F.-X. LALANNE, GARDENS; 1985, PAUL CHEMETOV, INTERIOR OF PLACE CARRÉE AND EQUIPMENT

29
Bourse de Commerce

2, RUE DE VIARMES AT RUE DU LOUVRE
1574, JEAN BULLANT, COLUMN; 1765–68, NICOLAS LE CAMUS DE MÉZIÈRES, GRAIN MARKET; 1782–83, JACQUES-GUILLAUME LEGRAND AND JACQUES MOLINOS, FIRST WOOD DOME; 1809, FRANÇOIS-JOSEPH BÉLANGER, SECOND IRON DOME; 1885–89, HENRI BLONDEL, BOURSE DE COMMERCE

30
Saint-Eustache

1, RUE DU JOUR
1532–1640, JEAN DELAMARRE OR PIERRE LE MERCIER; 1754, JEAN HARDOUIN-MANSART DE JOUY, FAÇADE, THEN PIERRE-LOUIS MOREAU; 1844, VICTOR BALTARD, FEW RESTORATIONS

31
L’Escargot Montorgueil

38, RUE MONTORGUEIL AT RUE ETIENNE-MARCEL
1875, RESTAURANT

32
Le Grand Véfour

17, RUE DE BEAUJOLAIS, BETWEEN RUE DE VALOIS AND MONTPENSIER
1820, PURCHASED BY JEAN VÉFOUR

33
Banque de France (former Hôtel de la Vrillière, then Hôtel de Toulouse)

ONE RUE DE LA VRILLIÉRE AT RUE CROIX DES PETITS-CHAMPS
1635–40, FRANÇOIS MANSART; 1713, ROBERT DE COTTE;
1853–65, GABRIEL CRÉTIN; 1870–74, CHARLES QUESNEL

34
Palais-Royal

PLACE DU PALAIS-ROYAL, BETWEEN RUE DE VALOIS AND RUE DE MONTPENSIER
1620, MARIN DE LA VALLÉE AND JEAN THIRIOT; 1625–39, JACQUES LEMERCIER; 1766–70, PIERRE-LOUIS MOREAU AND CONTANT D’IVRY, PARTIAL REBUILDING; 1781–84 AND 1786–90, VICTOR LOUIS, ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS; 1817, PIERRE-FRANÇOIS FONTAINE, ADDITIONAL BUILDING; 1849–75, PROSPER CHABROL; 1986, DANIEL BUREN, INSTALLATION IN THE COURTYARD

35
Place des Victoires

AT RUE DE LA FEUILLADE, RUE ETIENNE-MARCEL, RUE NOTRE-DAMES DES VICTOIRES, AND RUE CROIX DES PETITS CHAMPS
AT THE BOUNDARY OF THE FIRST AND SECOND ARRONDISSEMENTS, 1685–86, JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART

36
Comédie-Française

2, RUE DE RICHELIEU AT AVENUE DE L’OPÉRA
1786–90, VICTOR LOUIS; 1861, PROSPER CHABROL, SOUTH FAÇADE; 1900, REBUILT PARTIALLY

37
Musée de l’Orangerie

TUILERIES GARDENS, SEINE SIDE AT QUAI DES TUILERIES
1664, ANDRÉ LE NÔTRE, REDESIGN OF GARDENS; 1853 L’ORANGERIE; 1991, PASCAL CRIBIER AND LOUIS BÉNECH, REFURBISHMENT, TUILERIES

38
Sloped Apartments