126 



THE BOULEVARDS. 



thii'ty-six feet high. Between the Place de Chaillot and 

 tlie Pont de FAlma that side of the road only which faces 

 towards Chaillot will be covered with houses. The side 

 looking towards the Seine, which will form a terrace, sup- 

 ported by an immense wall, will give a fine view of the 

 river and the hills about Meudon. The land on which the 

 terrace wall is built is formed of the alluvium of the Seine, 

 which rendered the work of construction most difficult, 

 owing to its want of firmness. The method which seemed 

 to promise the greatest amount of safety, combined with 

 economy, was to spread the pressure of the vast mass over 

 a large extent of surface. For this purpose a wide area 

 was formed of concrete, on which was erected a wall nearly 

 of the same size. This wall was hollowed out on each side 

 by large spaces, forming on the front turned towards the 

 observer a series of vaults supporting a row of shrubs, 

 which allowed the eye to wander through them into the 

 neighbouring gardens. On the other side where the em- 

 bankment had been formed there were two rows of vaults, 

 in order that the weight of earth resting on them might be 

 added to that of the arcade itself, so as to counterbalance the 

 effect of the tendency of the embankment to throw the wall 

 outwards. 



The portion of the wall standing to the right of the 

 premises that belong to the waterworks at Chaillot was too 

 low to render the same method of construction necessary. 

 However, in order to increase the resources of this estab- 

 lishment, and to shut out from the sight of the passers-by 

 the vast heaps of coal lying in the yards, the vaulting 

 of the wall was continued on a smaller scale so as to form a 

 footpath above and a series of coal cellars below. This part 

 of the wall was surmounted by a railing covered with ivy so 

 as partially to hide the yard and buildings of the water- 

 works, which were somewhat awkwardly cut in two by the 

 new road. This wall was built entirely in a kind of artificial 

 stone formed of compressed concrete. The arcades that are 

 visible have millstone dressings, in order as much as possible 

 to vary the appearance of the wall, which is no less than 430 

 yards long. The total cost of the construction of the Avenue 



