Immeuble

English translation

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History

The accession of Charles X in 1824, 10 years after the restoration of the monarchy, appears as a decisive circumstance in the history of Parisian urban planning. It was indeed at this time that the first major developments of the capital were to see the light of day. They mark a complete break with the tradition of the faubourgs; the layout of these new districts was to profoundly modify the urban landscape of the agglomeration. The year 1824 was to see the birth of the greatest developments in Parisian history: within the enclosure of the Fermiers Généraux, the Saint-Vincent de Paul district, followed later by the district of Europe (on either side of the Nouvelle Athènes). From 1821, it was decided to cede to a group of financiers, Jacques Lafitte, César Ernest André and Louis Mathilde Cottier, the Saint-Lazare enclosure which still belonged at the end of the Empire to the Department. It was to create a district and new roads there, it was a genuine urban planning and architecture project; a monument, a church in this case, was to form its focal point. It is the name of Achille Leclère that must be retained in connection with this project; Leclère lived at the time at 2, rue d'Hauteville. At the intersection of the rues d'Hauteville and Lafayette, he forms a hexagonal square to the north of which the new church of Saint-Vincent de Paul was to rise, whose plans would be entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Lepère. The church is established on "the Saint-Lazare hill"; access was to be gained by a great flight of steps with four resting landings: arrangement inspired by the Trinité des Monts, place d'Espagne in Rome. Nine streets were to be formed around the square (rue Chabrol, Saint-Vincent de Paul, Bossuet, Fénelon, rue des Petits Hôtels, rue Charles X then rue Lafayette...). This square constitutes a genuine laboratory of the architecture and urban planning of the "new Poissonnière district" in the first third of the 19th century. The square as Achille Leclère conceived it was quite remarkable in its plan. Leclère did not really trace a square that is often described as hexagonal taking into account only the façades, but he traced a dodecagon, giving the solids the same value as the voids. Façades and streets were to have the same width of 20 metres, which was the case for rue Lafayette and the church steps, but not for the other streets. The arrangement of the façades was respected, with the exception of no. 6 built around 1850 and remodelled 10 years later. However the unity of the square was totally destroyed when Hittorf succeeded Lepère to complete the church of Saint-Vincent de Paul. He projected a large system of ramps which completely cleared the façade of the church; this approach was contrary to the effect that Leclère had wished for. Indeed, he sought an articulated relationship between the monument and the square; the square reduced to a sort of crescent became a kind of parvis. For the façades, Leclère made four proposals, two of which with pediments. It was a simpler approach in the spirit of the rue de Rivoli that was adopted. He built himself, from 1825 onwards, the house at 5-7 of the square and 107, rue Lafayette. Numbers 1-2-3-7 are from the same period, no. 4, on the other hand, was only built in 1835 by the architect Pellechet. This square named Charles X in 1825, became place Lafayette in 1830 and Franz Liszt since 1962. The ensemble which presents a certain interest is very generally ignored by Parisians. Dominated to the North by the church of Saint-Vincent de Paul, begun in 1824 by Lepère, continued and completed in 1844 by Hittorf and preceded by a monumental staircase with three landings, the place Franz Liszt is in the shape of a dodecagon. Crossed from west to east by rue Lafayette and pierced to the south by rue d'Hauteville which opens a deep perspective towards the south of Paris, it is lined with buildings, most of which were built in the first third of the 19th century. The buildings are raised three storeys above ground floor and roof space, some of which have been heightened and pierced with dormers. A balcony with cast-iron balustrade runs along the façades at the level of the noble floor and the 3rd storey. The façades are pierced with rectangular windows surmounted by triangular pediments at the noble storey. The angles of the façades are emphasised with rustication. Note the care devoted to proportions, decoration and mouldings and to the cast-iron work. The ground floors have been defaced by the arrangement of shops. Despite these modifications, the ensemble of façades has retained a certain unity.