40C 



THE CIVIL ENCINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



'"December, 



AN ARCHITECTURAL NOTE FROM PARIS. 

 By Geokge Godwin, Jux., F.R.S., &c. 



If the same spirit which now seems to pervade all classes of the 

 population there should cotiiinue to prevail, Paris will speedily become 

 the most elegant city in the whole world. Nevi- qtiartkrs are being 

 built, old houses razed to the ground, fresh streets opened ; her an- 

 cient glories protected and restored, the modern public monuments 

 long in progress, completed with magnificence quite regardless of ex- 

 pense. No person wlio visits Paris with his eyes and ears open, can 

 fail to observe how nuicli more general are a knowledge and love of 

 art there than in England, — how much more interest all matters con- 

 nected v.ilh it appear to excite, how much move competent to judge in 

 it the majority of persons are, and consequently how much reason there 

 is that its jjrofessors should become numerous and eminent. The re- 

 sult of the free admission of the peo))le to national monuments and 

 ■works of fine art, and of the liberal encouragement afforded by the go- 

 vernment to the arts of design, is becoming more evident every day, 

 and is seen to be in most respects good. .Something more than this it 

 is true, is necessary to ensure the perfect happiness and well-being of 

 a state, but with this just now the writer has nothing to do : he alludes 

 to it simply to prevent any from supposing that he considers the en- 

 couragement of the fine arts the only one thing necessary, and to an- 

 swer ill some degree a remark which might be, in fact which lias been 

 made, namely, that as France is not more tranquil and prosperous, 

 politically, than we are, this cultivation of the arts has been of little 

 service, and is therefore not greatly to be desired. Depend upon it 

 if it were not for this, France with her myriad population, — fermenting, 

 imeraployed, would be in a much worse state than she now is. Love 

 of the fine arts amongst the people generally, is one of the anchors by 

 which the stability of a state may be ensured. 



Hardly a house is now erected, even in the back streets of inferior 

 localities, without liighly enriched dressings for the doors and windows, 

 balconies of which the soffits are sculptured, cornices richly decorated. 

 The pediments over windows are filled with foliage, every moulding 

 is enriched; and figures and heads fin most cases etfectively, and in 

 many instances beautifully sculptured), ornament the piers, or the 

 spandrells of arches. Ironwork of elaborate design fills the lower 

 part of the window openings from the top of the building to the bot- 

 tom, and this being partially gilded, aids materially the general eflect. 

 The Citi'da 7/a//£??s, a building near the Boulevard des Italiens, designed 

 by the brothers Kaufman, (the eldest of whom died prematurely), may 

 be cited as a good example. The window dressings are exceedingly 

 elegant, the general arrangement excellent, in fact as a whole it quite 

 puts to shame any specimen of street architecture of which we can 

 boast. The interior court displays much richness of fancy. The 

 cafe adjoining this building and fronting on the Boulevard, is another 

 instance, and presents a series of elaborately sculptured adornments 

 over the whole of its two fronts. The frieze above the ground floor is 

 especially worthy of examination. On the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle ; 

 in the new quarter towards the north, near the church of Notre Dame 

 de Lorette ; in the neighbourhood of the Madeleine ; indeed in nearly 

 every part of the city, other buiidirgs might be instanced. Stone being 

 used universally as the staple building material, tlie houses as all know, 

 have an aspect of substantiality and permanence not to be attained 

 ■with our 14 inch brick walls and conipo adornments. The stone gene- 

 rally employed does not take a good face, being full of shell-holes and 

 cavities, but nevertheless is of nice colour and seems to endure 

 tolerably well. It is found necessary however, to protect from the 

 ■weather the tops of walls and the upper surface of large projections, 

 such as cornices, for which purpose sheet lead is emjiloyed. 



With regard to the execution of the sculpture spoken of, one cannot 

 but be surjirized at the number of workmen in Paris, for the most part 

 very young, who are found com|)etcnt for if. They form a class 

 which we have not, but much want in England, coming between the 

 mere stone cutter and the professed sculjitor, — the first of whom can- 

 not execute this description of work, and the latter may not. Our 

 schools of design when made numerous will perhaps supply this de- 

 sideratiun, hut that which would perhaps be even more eltbctive in 

 producing the class of artists alluded (o, is a greater demand for this 

 description of talent on the part (jf the public. Did we require here 

 to cover a house with foliage and figures of stone, we should have to 

 make search for half a dozen men capable of performing it satisfac- 

 torily, whereas in Paris there are scores, it nught almost be said hun- 

 dreds, judging from appearances, who could be found to execute it 

 efltjctively. Jn the article Car/on j'Xrre, to illustrate the point a little 

 further, it is found that designs sent from England may be modelled in 

 Paris, worked in this material and relumed to us, at less cost than the 



same designs can be executed here in an inferior manner, chiefly be- 

 cause of the scarcity of eflicient hands. 



Now we must not infer from the above tliat there is anv want of 

 ability, or any natural inferiority on the part of our ceuntrvraen, ex- 

 perience proves the contrary triumphantly ; it results there can be no 

 doubt from the little attention paid to the arts of design in the educa- 

 tion of our operatives, the want of opportunity to study beautiful 

 forms and to raise their standard of taste by the contemplation of 

 works of fine art, as well as from the limited nature of the demand for 

 artistical productions, — this latter being in part a result of the opera- 

 tion of the two former causes amongst other classes of societv. lam 

 glad to find Mr. W. Dyce, the excellent superintendent of the Go- 

 vernment School of Design, alluded to this subject in his evidence 

 given before the last Select Committee on the Fine Arts. Mr. Dyce 

 said with respect to the effect the decoration of the new Houses of 

 Parli'ament would have on the arts of design for manufactures, "we 

 want a middle class of artists ; we have only at present artists of the 

 highest sort, those who paint pictures, and of the lowest, who make 

 patterns of the worst description for manuf ictures ; we want a middle 

 class, who have the knowledge of artists, and the skill of ornamentists." 

 And again, " I should say the same thing with regard to sculptured 

 ornaments as I have said with regard to painted ornaments, that we 

 want a middle class of artists, — a class of artists who could execute 

 such statues as those in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, which are not 

 good enough to be the work of first-rate sculptors, but still are suffi- 

 ciently good for the purpose." 



To return to the mode of building in Paris, it will be observed by 

 every one that plain squared masses of stone are alone put up in the 

 first case, and that all the ornamental parts are worked out of them 

 after the erection is finished, beginning at the top and making all per- 

 fect as they go down. When a very hard stone is not used this method 

 seems to have several advantages: injury to delicate parts during the 

 progress of the work is avoided, and furthermore the effect of a deco- 

 ration in its position can be judged of when first commenced, and al- 

 tered if need be. 



Many of the doorways in recently finished hotels are exceedingly 

 elegant. In some cases the upper panels contain glass protected by 

 elaborate ironwork of beautiful designs. 



M. Hittorff to whom was confided the completion of that rcndeZ' 

 rous of monuments, the Place de la Concorde, after the erection there 

 of the Luxor obelisk, has constructed a theatre for the exhibition of 

 horsemanship in the Champs Elysees, and called the Cirque Js'alional, 

 which is perhaps the most striking thing of its kind ever seen. The 

 plan is a polygon with a portico on one side adorned with sculptured 

 figures and enriched mouldings. Colours are successfully employed, 

 here in external embellishment of the architectural members, being so 

 far as my own knowledge extends, the only instance of their use on 

 a stone building in France or England.-'" The building is of large size, 

 and would probably contain several thousand persons. The seats, 

 much elevated one above the other, extend all round the theatre, the 

 arena being in the centre, and the horses and performers entering by 

 two openings on the ground level. When filled with spectators the 

 upper part presenting vast unbroken circles of them, the efti?ct is very 

 striking. The roof, which together with the rest of the interior is a 

 mass of ornamental painting and gilding, is supported on sixteen very 

 light columns (of iron) and arches. 



Amongst the most important restorations going on are those of the 

 Hold de V>lk, (designed nearly at the commencement of the IGtli 

 century and completed at its close,) and of the Sainle Chaptlie adjoin- 

 ing the Palais de Justice. At the former, which is a curious and 

 valuable specimen of the Renais^avce period, the style whereof in its 

 purer shape, is now literally the ragt in Paris, considerable additions 

 as well as restorations are being made at a great expense. At the 

 Sauilc ChuijiUe where every one knows there is some most excellent 

 stained glass, the whole of the interior having been originally painted 

 and gilt, is being restored. In order that it may be made a perfect 

 work, the municipal council have voted the sum of 4,000/. annually, to 

 be paid, it is said, so long as the architect may require it for this pur- 

 pose! The fact that in the interior of nearly all churches in the mid- 

 dle ages, colours and gilding were employed systematically to aid the 

 architectural effect, has been but recently arrived at with certainty 

 either there or in our own country: now however, scarcely a week 

 passes without fresh discoveries in confirmation of its truth. In much 

 earlier times the same aid was resorted to, as is proved by the build- 



" M. ll.tlorH. it will I.e rememberoii, «as llie first siriler. supimrlal by dis- 

 jointed remarks on ihc sulijict by previous travellers, wIki buldly asserted 

 thai llie tirteks systematically adopted polychriiniailc dccuralioii in their 

 buildings. Sec liii paper '■ Z)c /V/«/jiV(T/Kr( Poh/rlnmne ties Grecs," a's^) his 

 flue work on Sicily li required no ordinary degree of r.erve to m-akc, at 

 ihat time, such a s.atemenl. 



