490 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



TOWN PLAN- 

 NING. In the 

 matter of town 

 planning Napoleon 

 proved himself a 

 worthy successor to 

 Henry IV. and 

 Louis XIV. Several 

 of the important 

 monuments with 

 which he embel- 

 lished Paris the 

 facade of the Corps 

 Legislatif, the Arc 

 de 1'Etoile, the 

 Madeleine went to 

 complete the great 

 scheme of improve- 

 ment of which the 

 Place de la Con- 

 corde was the centre. 

 He greatly extended 

 the scope of this 

 scheme by planning 

 the Rue de Rivoli 

 to connect it with 

 the central quarters. 

 Along a part of its 

 course the new 



north wing of the Tuileries formed its southern side, while the north 

 side (Fig. 461) was designed by Percier and Fontaine as a single scheme 

 of uniform elevations with an open arcade at the street level. Originally 

 planned to run as far as the Palais Royal the street was eventually carried 

 on till it joined the Rue St Antoine under the Second Empire, and thus 

 superseded the Rue St Honore as the main east and west artery of Paris. 



As an example of similar schemes in the provinces, those carried out 

 at Nantes by Mathurin de Crucy (1749-1826) may be mentioned. In 

 the course of a long career, as city architect, begun before the Revolution 

 and extending beyond the Empire, he largely altered the aspect of his 

 native city by laying out the Places Graslin, Louis XVI., and Royale, the 

 Cours Henri IV. and Cambronne, and designing the Bourse, the cloth and 

 fish markets, the municipal theatre, and the facade of the Hotel de Ville. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. It is not necessary to linger long over 

 the domestic architecture of the Empire. Throughout the period 



461. 



PARIS : THE RUE DE RIVOLI, BY PERCIER AND 

 FONTAINE. 



