Medieval Paris Before Baron Haussmann's Transformation

[Hed_Kandi]

This thread will be dedicated to photos of Pre Haussmann Paris (1852). Please add maps, photos, clips, or information relating to the topic. Thanks!

A clip showing medieval Paris:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video...rticle1278723/

Background article on Haussmann Paris transformation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussma...ation_of_Paris

Images

[wolfpaw]

Great idea for a thread!

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.

[wolfpaw]

A few of Charles Marville's photos here {blog is in French}

http://saintsulpice.unblog.fr/2009/0...quaires-paris/

[M@rtoc]

Tour Jean-sans-peur, built by the Burgundy duke Jean-sans-peur during the civil war against Armagnacs between 1409 and 1411 :

Originally Posted by wolfpaw

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.

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.

[Larobi]

Originally Posted by wolfpaw

Great idea for a thread!

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.

Excellent thread! I agree entirely with you, so we are a minority of - at least - two!

[Hed_Kandi]

Originally Posted by Larobi

Excellent thread! I agree entirely with you, so we are a minority of - at least - two!

Make that three

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[steppenwolf]

wonderful!! Been interested in this for such a long time and have found it so hard to find any info!! cant wait for the thread to grow.. already very interesting

[wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by M@rtoc

Tour Jean-sans-peur, built by the Burgundy duke Jean-sans-peur during the civil war against Armagnacs between 1409 and 1411 :







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.

Wow, that vaulted ceiling is one of the most amazing things I've seen for a long time!

[wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by M@rtoc

But the overwhelming majority of the buildings had little patrimonial value, and in many districts the only medieval thing was the street pattern.

Perhaps but isn't it the case that many medieval, timber-framed buildings were hidden behind later facades and layers of stucco and render? They might not have looked much from the outside but I expect many ancient buildings came down under Haussmann's orders.

It's ironic really. I know in my own city the area with the finest medieval and Elizabethan merchants' houses was the centre of the slums in the 19th century. Unfortunately they were all totally destroyed in the 1930s in the name of improvement

[heywindup]

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.

[Hed_Kandi]

Originally Posted by heywindup

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.

Try using a different browser or perhaps update your plugins.

[WhiteMagick]

Originally Posted by M@rtoc

That ceiling is a work of art.

[tpe]

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

[tpe]

The point of the above excerpt is to show that city and district planning in Paris predates Haussmann by more than a couple of centuries.

[Hed_Kandi]

Thanks for the contributions.

[seattle92]

Originally Posted by M@rtoc

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.

At least the island could have stayed as it was. It's a shame so many history was lost

[erbse]

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.

[Ønland]

thats what I call an architecture

[Phobos]

It's almost impossible to think about Paris without Hausmann's transformation.
We know that a lot of medieval buildings were lost,but if we wanna have a feeling of a medieval city we can always visit Ghent,Brugge,Chester,Venice and so many others.
Paris is the best example of the XIX century urbanism,and whether people like Haussmann's work or not,we can't deny the grandeur of the city he built.

Originally Posted by M@rtoc

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.

Could you give us a link to that thread?

[GENIUS LOCI]

Interesting thread

I found this map



And take a look at that http://plans.paris.online.fr/gallica/paris-hst1.html