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Medieval Paris Before Baron Haussmann's Transformation

538K views 542 replies 110 participants last post by  alexandru.mircea 
#1 ·
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#2 ·
Great idea for a thread! :yes:

I've tried before to find out more about the Paris that existed before Haussmann destroyed it but information is hard to get hold of.

I think I'm probably in a minority who thinks that Haussmann was a vandal and willfully destroyed centuries of history, just to rebuild miles and miles of boulevards that all look pretty much the same. :weird:
 
#4 ·
Tour Jean-sans-peur, built by the Burgundy duke Jean-sans-peur during the civil war against Armagnacs between 1409 and 1411 :






I think I'm probably in a minority who thinks that Haussmann was a vandal and willfully destroyed centuries of history, just to rebuild miles and miles of boulevards that all look pretty much the same. :weird:
Some people definately think the same. There's a thread in the French subforum where we talk about the possibility to replace haussmannian buildings. Result : dozens and dozens of pages.
I think the worst he's done is the Hôtel-Dieu hospital right next to Notre-Dame in the heart of medevial Paris, there he really was a vandal. But the overwhelming majority of the buildings had little patrimonial value, and in many districts the only medieval thing was the street pattern.
 
#31 ·
This area was untouched by Haussmann. The building with the turret still exists today... but it looks a little "fake". Why ? A bomb feel on it during WWII, and it was then heavilly restored (or even rebuilt).
http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0012644.html



This is the old "île de la cité". This street is now replaced by the big "hôtel dieu" (hospital) :
http://www.cosmovisions.com/monuParisRueArcole.htm
 
#10 ·
This is a really great thread! I would love to see more pictures of Paris pre-Haussmann renovations.

That video on the Globe and Mail does not seem to be working. :(
 
#13 ·
Lotissements of Late Medieval and Renaissance Paris: the Lotissement of the Hôtel Saint-Pol and Other Contempoaray Developments

Two practical factors conditioned the evolution of the form and style of the sixteenth-century Parisian hôtel . The organization of the lotissements for building development of the 1540s determined the size and shape of new houses, and the terms and system of costing of the notarial Parisian building contract provide a basis for understanding the stylistic choices available and the decisions made by patrons and architects...

...Not since the Hundred Years War had there been an initiative on the scale and importance of the lotissement of the Hôtel Saint-Pol, with its novel straight streets, and at 10 metres in width they were wide for Paris of the period. Medieval royal palaces in Paris, with the exception of the compact Louvre, covered large areas with numerous corps de logis , halls and service buildings, connected by galleries and arbours and separated by irregular courtyards and gardens, as was the Hôtel Saint-Pol of Charles V and VI. Parts of these sprawling complexes had been given or leased to royal favourites up to the 1520s, and the resolve of the Crown to generate the maximum revenue from these lotissements is shown in the revocation of all gifts and termination of leases on small and large portions of the properties, so that these new quartiers could be methodically developed with grid pattern streets and regular building plots to attract those with means. As can be seen in the outline plans of the lotissements of the Hôtel de Flandre and the Hôtel Saint-Pol the scale of the plots varies with the smaller lots usually lining those streets which were expected to be the busiest, for houses with shops or offices on the ground floor of a kind seen in du Cerceau's first project. The large plots for substantial houses were on the streets which were quieter without direct access between the main thoroughfares...



Plan of the lotissement of the Hôtel Saint-Pol from 1543 to 1556 (Mirot).


Plan of the lotissement of the Hôtel de Flandre in 1543 (Dumolin).


Plan of the lotissement of the Culture Sainte-Catherine in 1545 (Dumolin).


Source: Renaissance Paris: Architecture and Growth 1475–1600 (David Thomson) 1985
 
#17 ·
Paris is said to be the biggest medieval old town once. It had several half timbered houses like those above. You can imagine how massive it must have been, considering how much of it is gone and how darned large the Haussmanian reorganized area is. And that Paris was (along with London) the biggest metropolis of the known world for quite a long time.
 
#22 ·
"A bird’s eye view of Paris would have been interesting in the Middle Ages, but now! [...] And then the edifices emerging from this jumble of roofs, Notre Dame, the Sainte Chapelle, Saint Severin, Saint Etienne du Mont, the Tour Saint Jacques, are put out of countenance by the deplorable mass of newer edifices. And I am not at all eager to contemplate that specimen of the art of the maker of toilet articles which the Opera is, nor that bridge arch, the Arc de Triomphe, nor that hollow chandelier, the Tour Eiffel!"

Joris-Karl Huysmans, Là-Bas, 1891
 
#27 ·
Beautiful McDonalds.
 
#29 ·
Interesting thread (I hadn't seen it until today).

What Haussmann did is certainly vandalism by our standards, and sometimes was an urbanistic disaster (la Cité). But a common mistake is to believe that he found a virtually unchanged medieval Paris. As a very active and growing city between the XVIth and the XIXth century, Paris continually changed (unlike Rouen for example, which was the second city of France at the end of the Middle Age, then suffered a relative decline, and subsequently preserved more of its medieval look until the XIXth century).

In the center of Paris, what was left from the middle age was the street plan (like M@rtoc said) and the shape of the parcels (wich by itself are of historical value imo). Many churches had already been destroyed over the centuries, especially after the French Revolution ; nearly all mansions had been replaced by "modern looking" ones during the earlier centuries or simply disappeared (only 2 or 3 are left, whose pictures are displayed above) ; most ordinary houses had already been rebuilt or had their height raised, or at the very least had their facades covered with plaster and mouldings. And I don’t even mention the walls.

Interestingly, in a chapter of "Notre Dame de Paris", Victor Hugo describes how wonderful Paris may have looked at the end the XVth century, and says how ugly and dull the city now is... and he wrote that text a few decades before Haussmann.

But even if Paris didn't look at all in 1850 like it looked in 1500, countless traces and relics of the past disappeared because of the work of Haussmann, and the feeling of the city drastically changed.

You can easily find books with pictures and maps of the disappeared streets, for example:
http://www.amazon.com/Walks-Through...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273868596&sr=8-1

It's not that difficult to imagine what the old (Pre-haussmann) Paris looked like, there are many pictures, detailed maps... and many old streets remained untouched. If you walk around Saint Severin on the left bank, or along streets around les Halles, you have a good idea of what the Cité, or the district around the Chatelet looked like (except the streets in theses districts were even narrower, and more twisting).
 
#30 · (Edited)
These buildings (same houses as in your 3 first pictures), are an example of houses which were covered with plaster, probably during the XVIIth or XVIIIth century, and then restored to have a "medieval look" during the XXth century. Many buildings in what remains of the old streets of Paris are actually wooden houses, but you can't see it.
But I'm not sure theses houses are really medieval, or at least they were heavilly transformed. As far as I remember, the house on the left had no gable until it was restored (in the 50s, 60s ?).
"Real" medieval houses in Paris were probably much more beautiful, with projecting stories and sculptures, which can't be seen here.
 
#36 ·
Thanks for the infos brisavoine!

The Frankfurt Altstadt is less than 0.5 km². And that was a pretty large old town it would have taken days and weeks to explore in detail.
That means Paris old town (walled area alone) was about or over NINE times as large. Wow. :eek2:
To think some guys just decided to tear all of that down :eek:hno:
 
#38 · (Edited)
That means Paris old town (walled area alone) was about or over NINE times as large. Wow. :eek2:
To think some guys just decided to tear all of that down :eek:hno:
Don't worry, more than 50% of the Medieval city of Paris has survived. You just have to search for it. It's not one big area, it's just many small areas, many small Medieval islands separated by Haussmannian streets and avenues. You need to take all sorts of side streets to find the Medieval Paris that has survived. But it's there, more than 50% of it is still there, hidden behind the Haussmannian avenues.

One thing you need to know, however, is the Medieval heart of Paris stopped looking Medieval in the 16th century. With the huge growth of Paris, the population of the city going from 200,000 inhabitants in 1500 to 400,000 inhabitants in 1630, pretty much all the Medieval houses were destroyed and replaced by taller and cheaper-looking apartment buildings which could accomodate more people. So even before Haussmann, the Medieval heart of Paris didn't look like Medieval German cities with their cute timber frame houses.

On Google street view, you can have a look at many Medieval streets of Paris that survived Haussmannization. None of these streets will look "Medieval" to you, because as I explained the old Medieval houses were destroyed in the 16th and 17th centuries to make way for taller and plainer buildings whose façades were plastered with white Paris plaster to prevent fire (so no fancy timber frames alas), but nonetheless all these streets are pretty much the same as they were in the 18th century before Haussmann.

Here is a short list of some of them (in total there must be more than 200 remaining Medieval streets in Paris, so my list here is only a super short list, so you can have a look on Google street view):
- rue Sauval
- rue Lanneau
- rue de Montmorency (contains the oldest surviving house in Paris, from the 15th century)
- rue des Grand-Augustins
- rue de la Huchette
- rue des Ursins
- rue de Quincampoix
- rue Bailleul
- and many, many more

Here below you have a typical Medieval street of Paris (this one is rue des Grands-Augustins). All the buildings in this street were built before 1800. The buildings to the left are from the 17th century, and you can tell they housed rich people, because they are entirely made of stone and with fancy balconies. The buildings to the right of the street are probably from the 18th century, and you can tell they housed working class people because they use cheap Paris plaster, and the balconies are plain and simple. Before 1600, probably this street looked like Medieval streets in fairy tales, with beautiful timber frame Medieval houses, but all the timber frame Medieval houses in this street were probably demolished after 1600 and replaced by the taller buildings you can see today in order to make way for a rapidly growing population following the end of the French Wars of Religion.

 
#44 ·
Parisians are spoiled :lol: that hotel isn't that bad looking and that police department is beautiful. Are they the most beautiful structures in Paris? No, but I think they deserve some respect.
 
#51 · (Edited)
^^ Having a such dead land in heart of the city is a shame.
Before Ile de la Cité was the living heart of the city, not a dead administrative area where almost only tourists set a foot.

If you ask a parisian when was the last time he has been in Ile de la Cite.
I wouldn't be suprised to hear "never" for most of the case.
Ile de la Cité is not a peripheral part but the heart.

About administrations, I think most will leave the island within this decade or the next one.
Buildings are undersized and cannot be extended, a big renovation would cost a fortune.
It is far less expensive and more convenient to be in modern building in less central area.
 
#45 ·
Here you're at the very geographic center of one of the top 4 world global cities. It deserves better than some average buildings that would look good in some 2nd or 3rd-tier city. When I visit midtown Manhattan, I don't expect to find there the same sorts of buildings I would find in Topeka, Kansas. That's as simple as that.

PS: The Hôtel Dieu is not a hotel, it's a hospital, as I explained in the previous page.
 
#257 ·
This is an interesting thread and I must say that quite often when I'm in Paris I like to stay in the left bank, in a street called rue de siene which is a lovely narrow street with many medieval-type buildings or should we say pre-Haussmann more correctly, and it's full of atmosphere with many galleries, restaurants, cafes, bars and street markets on the weekend. It's cosy and there are many other streets like this one around historic Paris. You wouldn't even know there are grand Haussmannian boulevards nearby if you didn't venture too far from these areas. So my point is that there already exists enough (imho at least) pre-Haussmannian streets in Paris to explore and enjoy. BUT here is where you contradict yourself because it's not these pre-Haussmannian buildings and atmosphere which makes Paris a world global city, but it's largely the grandeaur of Haussmann's Paris that does, albeit some of the most grand and beautiful buildings such as Garnier's Opera and perhaps some less appealing buildings like the Hotel Dieu.

Put simply, Paris wouldn't be a magnificent, urban masterpiece, top 4 world global city without Haussmann's realisation and for this we should all be infinitely grateful and forget the misplaced nostalgia of a boring, unimpressive pre-Haussmannian, jumbled medieval city that would have left Paris a 3rd or less tier city. And we probably would never have seen the great flowering of culture and learning that we saw after the city's amazing Haussmannian transformation, culminating in the belle epoque and further on into the twentieth century, luring artists and thinkers from all over the world to this newly, incredibly transformed great metropolis and with that inspiring countless people to recreate something of this grandeaur, design and lifestyle in other places around the world!
 
#53 ·
The Île de la Cité in 1754, before the first destructions of the Medieval street grid took place (extraordinarily detailed map by Jean Delagrive, chief geographer of the City of Paris):


The Île de la Cité today:


Close-up of the central section of the Île de la Cité in 1754:


The same area today (the enormous and monstruous Hôtel Dieu built in the 1870s obliterated the largest part of the oldest Medieval district of Paris which went back to Roman times):
 
#54 ·
This is how the Medieval streets on the Île de la Cité looked like in 1858. This picture was taken at the corner of Rue St Landry and Rue des Marmousets. This entire district was razed to the ground shortly after this picture was taken, and the ugly Hôtel Dieu now occupies all the ground.

I'm indicating the exact place where the picture was taken on Delagrive's map (photograper facing the west):


And this is the picture:


Another one. This one shows the Rue du Haut-Moulin. Again razed to the ground to make way for the Hôtel Dieu. The photographer was facing west.





The central section of the Île de la Cité in 1857 as seen from the towers of Notre Dame:


The same place 8 years later in 1865 after Haussmann had razed to the ground all the Medieval streets to build the Prefecture of Police:


Another view of the central section of the Île de la Cité before Haussmann's massacre:


The destruction of the Île de la Cité in the 1860s:




The central section of the Île de la Cité before the massacre (photographer is facing south). All the buildings in this picture were destroyed shortly after to make way for the ugly Hôtel Dieu:


The same place only 10 years later. The most ancient Medieval district of Paris has disappeared, replaced by windswept squares and the enormous Hôtel Dieu:
 
#55 · (Edited)
I also find it a big loss that Île de la Cité was destroyed, but my point is, are we going to create a better situation by replacing original 19th century architecture that in meantime has gained its own value, and bringing postmodern qualities into its place. To be honest I wouldn't like to see this there:



 
#56 ·
are we going to create a better situation by replacing original 19th century architecture that in meantime has gained its own value?
The Hôtel Dieu has gained its own value ? :crazy:

I don't think there is any person in Paris, not even the people most opposed to modernism, who like the Hôtel Dieu. It's a blight on the face of Paris.

This is a true Hôtel Dieu (this one in Beaune, Burgundy). Hôtel Dieu (literally "hostel of God") were the public hospitals run by the Church during the Middle Ages:


This was the Medieval Hôtel Dieu of Paris (to the left of the Episcopat) built by King Saint Louis in the 13th century. Part of it burnt during the fire of 1772, and what remained of it was razed to the ground by Haussmann in the 1860s:


The Medieval Hôtel Dieu in 1718 during the fire of the Petit Pont (the bridge in the picture whose houses burnt):


The Hôtel Dieu in 1703:


The Hôtel Dieu and the Episcopat under the reign of Louis XIII:


And this is the, hm, current Hôtel Dieu of Paris built in the 1870s:










 
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