House and Garden 
pie space between buildings of suitable 
height, which provides a vista for fine mon¬ 
uments at its terminations or along its 
course, is a French invention, and, we may 
say, an invention of that portion of French 
architectural history covered by the reigns of 
the four Bourbons from Louis XIII. to the 
Revolution. At the same time it is the cul¬ 
mination of the classic idea of symmetry and 
balance in arrangement and construction. 
We feel, now that it has been invented, that 
classic architecture requires precisely this sort 
of setting. 
AXES IN THE PLAN OF PARIS 
With the development ot appreciation of 
classic symmetry in the seventeenth century 
it was quite natural that architects should be 
dissatisfied with the medieval lack of arrange¬ 
ment. They felt the necessity for more 
firmness in the city map, more definite lines 
of symmetrical development. The intro¬ 
duction of these lines was the special accom¬ 
plishment of the 
Bourbon period, 
and it is this which 
gives to the city of 
Paris its finest char- 
acteristics today. 
Paris, as we know 
it, notwithstanding 
the enormous labor 
of Napoleon III. 
and Haussmann, is 
the city which was 
conceived by the 
great designers of 
Louis XIV. (1643- 
I7I5)- 
THE RIVER 
One of the chief 
axes of Paris is 
provided by nature. 
That portion of 
the Seine which lies 
between the Place 
de la Concorde and 
the Pont-Neuf is 
nearly straight and 
permits symmetri¬ 
cal architectonic ar¬ 
rangement. 
The importance 
of the river axis 
was clearly seen in the Renaissance period, 
and the northern side was charmingly treated 
by the architects of Catharine de Medici and 
Henry IV. in the construction of the Petite 
and Grande Galeries du Louvre. The com¬ 
pletion of the old Louvre quadrangle, in the 
reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., was 
an important addition. The Pont-Neuf 
made a modest, but monumental, termination 
toward the east. Westward, toward Chaillot 
and Saint-Cloud, was open country, quiet but 
varied, occupied by villages which have since 
given their names to populous quarters of the 
great city. 
At the commencement of the reign ot 
Louis XIII. the southern side, the rive 
gauche , was undeveloped. The chief features 
were the group of buildings about the Tour 
de Nesle and the great meadow of the Pre 
aux Clercs, a large portion of which was 
taken up by the hotel and gardens ot “ la 
royne Margueritte .” With these were vari- 
THE MAP OF PIERRE BULLET AND FRANCOIS BLONDEL-1 676 
229 
