Architectural viewpoints in mid-19th-century France: Neoclassicism and Eclecticism: The French Revolution of 1789 and the rise of Napoleon. Napoleon"s message of equality and his state architecture of Empire. The Empire style of Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-FranÁois-LËonard Fontaine (1762-1853) the Arc du Carrousel, Paris (1806-8), Percier and Fontaine, Rue de Rivoli, Paris, from 1802. The interior of Ch’teau de Malmaison by Percier and Fontaine, 1799-1803
France in the 19th century: political confusion and cultural aspirations. The Revolution of 1848: Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) and the Second Empire (1848-70). French state architecture and its links to the past. The New Louvre, Paris, built 1852-57, Ludovico Visconti (1791-1853) and Hector-Martin Lefuel (1810-1881). The continuity of intentions for the Louvre since the 16th century. Themes: cultural continuity, admiration for era of Louis XIV, concern with monumentality in public building, regularization. (LOUVRE: IM Pei's Grands Pyramids of the Louvre; exterior).
The Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Ècole [school] not accented when capitalized]). Ecole architecture stands for an educational method and a design philosophy. Exs. of theoretical basis for architecture and town planning: Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (1760-1834), Summary of architecture lessons given to the Royal Polytechnic School1802-5: Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1734-1829), Theoretical and practical treatise on the art of building.1802-3; Auguste Choisy (1841-1909) History of Architecture, 1899. (TREATISES Durand, Jean Nicolas Louis Recuell et parallegje des edices plans).
The four-step training at the Ecole: aspirant, first class, second class, Grand Prix. The atelier and its patron. The concours d'emulation: esquisses, projets rendus. Design philosophy: composition, distribution, disposition. Parti and marche. Ex. work of American architect Julia Morgan (1872-1957), first woman admitted to Ecole. (JULIA MORGAN:
Ecole student drwg1;
Ecole student drwg2).
Aspects of the Ecole. The problem of color in architecture: Jacques-Ignace Hittorff (1792-1867) proposes polychromy based on investigations of Greek temples in Sicily. Radicals of Ecole: Emile-Jacques Gilbert, FÈlix-Jacques Duban, LÈon Vaudoyer, Henri Labrouste and Viollet-le-Duc..Illustration of departure from classicism: The main reading room, BibliothËque Nationale, Paris (1859-68)
Ecole-based architecture: BibliothËque Ste.-GÈnÈviËve, Paris, 1839-50, Henri Labrouste (1801-75). Note: Context and constraints, parti, iron structure, decoration of construction. (BIBLIOLTHEQUE S. GENEVIEVE: plan; section; exterior; Reading Room).
Critic of the Ecole: Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-70). In charge of historical restoration of Gothic churches. Structural rationalist. Ex. of using iron in architecture for concert hall in Discussions on architecture, 1858-1872. Viollet-le-Duc tried to reform the Ecole in 1863 but failed. (VIOLET le DUC Concert Hall drwg).
Ecole-based architecture: Paris OpÈra, 1861-65, Charles Garnier (1825-98). Note: parti of intersecting rectangles, legible exterior, Garnier's social analysis of the building's requirements, decoration, placement in urban context. (OPERA HOUSE: plan; exterior; Grand Hall).
Urban planning: regularization and order. Baron Georges-EugËne Haussmann (1809-91) and the plan for rebuilding Paris. Based on urban and monumental elements already in place, e.g. Place de la Concorde (Ange-Jacques Gabriel, 1753-65). Note: exterior and interior boulevards, grande croisÈe, Arc de Triomphe (J.-F.-T. Chalgrin, et al., begun 1806) and the Place de l'Štoile. Utilitarian buildings like Victor Baltard"s (1805-1874) market, Halles Centrales (1854-70). (PARIS: new plan by Haussman; Arc du Carrousel; Opera Area; Blvd by Lenoir; Arc de Triomphe).