OBSERVATIONS ON URBAN AESTHETICS London, Paris and New York by Wim Denslagen

Author:Wim Denslagen [Denslagen, Wim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: London, Paris, New York, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, architecture, cityscapes, travellers
ISBN: 9789087596385
Publisher: Uitgeverij U2pi BV, Den Haag
Published: 2016-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

The boulevards and squares

The famous nineteenth-century topographer Adolphe Joanne in his Paris Illustré (1871) opens his chapter devoted to the boulevards by declaring that all of Europe’s capitals owe their charm to parks and ‘promenades’. In Saint Petersburg, Vienna and Berlin, these boulevards were designed in a symmetrical pattern, which reflected the vision of their respective ‘monarchies absolues’, whereas the promenades of London reflected the character of the aristocracy. While the boulevards of Paris, ‘la ville de l’égalité, la ville démocratique par excellence’, were constructed for the pleasure of all of its inhabitants. Joanne was here referring to the boulevards built on the site of the former city walls, including the boulevards Beaumarchais, Temple, Montmartre, Italiens, Capucines and Madeleine.

These boulevards were considered places where one could found entertainment and the ‘grandes magazins’ (especially on the boulevard Montmartre). Before the Revolution, Joanne described the boulevard du Temple as ‘le plus gai et le plus animé de tous’ where one could find ‘brillants cafés, les spectacles à bon marché, les restaurants, les joyeux cabarets’. Boulevard des Italiens was renowned for establishments where the aristocracy would meet, as well as the Maison Dorée, the restaurant Joanne described as ‘le plus fréquenté de Paris’.

Montémont, in his Guide Universel (1877), described the boulevards as green, shaded promenades (verdoyantes promenades ombragées). He also recalled that a famous lady once described the boulevards as ‘the waistband of the goddess of beauty’.

Although the architectural quality of the old boulevards was impressive, the newer boulevards as designed by Georges- Eugène Haussmann, such as the boulevards Saint-Germain, Saint-Michel, Sébastopol, Magenta and Strasbourg, significantly altered the character of Paris. These new boulevards, constructed in the period 1853–1870, astonished the world. But these broad avenues could not have been constructed without destroying large parts of the old city centre.

Joanne wrote that many Parisians were quite satisfied with the urban renewal projects initiated by Napoléon III and his prefect, Haussmann. The only inhabitants who seemed to object were some of Paris’s prominent artists. Joanne wanted to impress upon his readers the absolute necessity of the renovations and so he asked Gustave Doré to make an engraving of the rue aux Fèves just prior to its makeover in 1862. He published it in the 1871 edition of his Guide Illustré. Doré created a view of an appalling scene in a very cramped and narrow lane, which exemplified the terrible inner city environment of old Paris, scandalous conditions that had to be eradicated from the face of the earth. 62

Paris was transformed into a masterpiece of urban design, by the new boulevards, but also by the many new squares. These were inspired by London’s square, but they were of a very different composition as designed by Adolphe Alphand and his Service des Promenades et Plantations. Alphand published all of the executed designs in his Promenades de Paris (1867– 1873), a book as massive as a typical atlas in which he describes the construction of twenty-five new squares with their various plantings and the trees planted along streets and boulevards, as well as the redesigned parks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.