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Category Archives: Paris architecture
Empty Streets
Birdsong. That’s what I hear these days when I wake up. Not the sounds of neighbours going to work or getting the kids ready for school. But the sound of robins and sparrows and starlings. I hope our friends in … Continue reading
Art Nouveau and Aerodynamics in Auteuil
The southern reaches of the 16th arrondissement might be considered the Wild West of Paris. Auteuil was largely countryside when Haussmann was at work on central Paris, and his ideas about tidy facades that lined up neatly never stood much … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, Paris quartiers
Tagged Auteuil, Charles Deron-dit-Levent, Gaston Danois, Gustave Eiffel, Hector Guimard, Hotel Danois, Hotel Deron-Levent, Joachim Richard, Laboratoire Aerodynamique Eiffle, Le Tunnel Brasserie, Louis Victor Jassedé, Soufflerie Eiffel
4 Comments
The ugliest building in Paris
In the last blog, I mentioned Gabriel Davioud, who is credited with designing some of the classic street furniture of Paris. I wanted to know more about him. That proved to be a challenge. The ordinarily helpful Gallica offered 25 … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris expositions, Paris history
Tagged Aquarium du Trocadéro, Charles Blanc, Charles Percier, Charles-Marie Widor, Exposition Universelle de 1878, Gabriel Davioud, Jacques Carlu, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Jules Bourdais, Jules Simon, Marcel Proust, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon II, Palais de Chaillot, Palais du Roi de Rome, Pierre Fontaine, Trocadéro
10 Comments
A web of friends and a ceremony in a former corset factory
For many, Paris is the City of Light, grand museums, or extravagant shopping forays. For us, it is the City of Surprises, and now, a city of friends. Several years ago, when we started research on the history of communications … Continue reading
Gustave Eiffel did not sleep here
On a recent visit to Laywine’s, our favourite pen and stationery store in Toronto, Philippa picked up a desk pad made by the French paper firm Exacompta, and found the following note on the front: Made in the heart of … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, World War I
Tagged Clairefontaine, Compagnie Parisienne d’air comprimé, Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d’Électricité, Denis Cosnard, Exacompta, G. Lalo, Labor, Mignon, Paul Friésé, Quai de Jemmapes, Rhodia, Saderne, Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques
9 Comments
Paris Elevators: A Tiny Story
I am sure many of our readers have stayed in those small hotels that are so typical of Paris. Over the years they have been reconfigured to add modern conveniences that were not in the original design. We remember one … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris film, Paris hotels
Tagged elevators, hotels, Josiane Balasko, Le Père Noël est une ordure, lifts
10 Comments
Rescued from oblivion
On the morning of April 12, 2016, three of us set out from this courtyard on an astounding walk through the Marais. But the story starts much earlier. In 1980, a sharp-eyed passerby spotted some photographs in a Paris dumpster … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, Paris markets, Paris quartiers, Paris streets
Tagged A. Cayeux, André Malraux, îlots insalubres, Creaphis Editions, F. Nobécourt, Janvier Graveur Estampeur, Le Pas Sage, Malraux law 1962, Marais, Marché des Enfants Rouges, Paris Marais 43, Paris Occupation, Patrice Roy, rue Michel le Comte, Second World War
30 Comments
A Doomed Attempt at Out-Eiffelling Eiffel
Even before its inauguration on March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower was world famous. Loved by some, reviled by others, it would be the world’s tallest building until New York’s Chrysler Building took the lead in 1930. Of course, as … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris expositions
Tagged Albert Brunel, American Architect and Building News, Charles Baillairgé, Edward W. Watkin, Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, London Stump, Max Am Ende, Neloah, Public Domain Review, Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Co., Tower Company Limited, Wembley
5 Comments
Fifty Ways to Close Your Shutters
On our last visit to Paris in June, we did most of our travelling by bus, which meant time spent waiting at bus stops and journeys on which we gazed out the window at the streets, instead of hurtling through … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris hospitals, Paris streets
Tagged arrêts bergère, arrêts de vent, arrêts de volet, awnings, espagnolette, Institut du Monde Arabe, jalousie, Maison de Balzac, moucharabieh, persiennes, Port Royal maternity hospital, shutters, stores à l’italienne, stores venétiens, volets, volets roulants
14 Comments
Hark the Herald
In casting about for a Christmassy theme for this week’s blog, I thought about angels. Angels have prominent roles in the Christmas story, and I had photographed lots of them in Paris, hadn’t I? Or had I? Well, yes and … Continue reading
