The Topographical Evolution of the City of Paris 
avenue of the Champs-Elysees was begun, 
which first appears in the plan of Jouvin de 
Rochefort (1672) under the name “ Avenue 
des Tuileries.” T his plan also shows the 
rond point of the Champs-Elysees, the Ave¬ 
nue Montaigne and Avenue d’Antin ra¬ 
diating from it, although, of course, they do 
not take these names until much later. We 
must remember that in all these old maps, 
work projected and work accomplished are not 
clearly separated. The form of the avenues 
is precisely that of the Cours la Reine, ronds 
points with straight connecting roads. Any¬ 
one who is familiar with the French forests, 
like Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain, knows 
how common the type is. The time of its 
origin is not known, but as a rule common 
types are old types. The map of the Abbe 
de la Grive (1728) gives the name “Avenue 
de Neuilly” to the portion east of the rond 
point , thus indicating a definite intention to 
carry the street through to that village. It is 
possible that it followed the line of an old 
road already in use. 
The beautiful plan de Roussel (1730) car¬ 
ries the Avenue de Neuilly through to the 
village and develops the Place de 1 ’Etoile. 
The plan of Verniquet (1798), the finest 
map made before the nineteenth century, 
gives a beautiful representation of the en¬ 
tire Champs-Elysees region at 
the end of the eighteenth cen¬ 
tury. Napoleon and his suc¬ 
cessors added the Arc de 
Triomphe. The Champs- 
Elysees were entirely remodel¬ 
ed by Elaussmann in 1859. 
A great square at the bend 
of the river where the enceinte 
of Charles IX. ended, was un¬ 
doubtedly included in the ori¬ 
ginal scheme, which it is easy 
to ascribe to Le Notre and 
Louis XIV. In all the early 
maps the Cours la Reine does 
not begin at the Tuileries gar¬ 
den, but at a carefully deter¬ 
mined distance from it, which 
agrees with the present limi¬ 
tations of the Place de la Con¬ 
corde. In the plan of Bullet 
and Blondel( Francois Blondel, 
architect of the Porte Saint- 
Denis), which bears the date 1676, the actual 
space reserved for the great square is care¬ 
fully shown. At this moment only one axis 
was contemplated. An avenue balancing the 
Cours la Reine on the northern side is shown. 
The beautiful plan cavalier of Turgot 
(1739) represents the Rue Royale completed 
on the northern side. The plan of Vaugondy 
(1760) gives the square its first name, Place 
de Louis XV., and defines the outline as it 
has remained to this day. It shows also the 
location of the equestrian statue of Louis XV. 
In the plan of Jaillot (1775) tbe beautiful 
scheme of Gabriel is elaborated. The plan 
of Verniquet (1798) gives the Pont Louis 
XVI., now de la Concorde. 
Jacques-Ange Gabriel, the architect who 
created the Place de la Concorde, was the 
son of Jacques-Jules Gabriel and the grand¬ 
son of Jacques Gabriel, one of the architects 
of the Pont Royal. In 1752 Jacques-Ange 
entered the famous concours for the construc¬ 
tion of the Place Louis XV. His plans were 
accepted and the square finished in 1763. 
The colonnades on the north side were fin¬ 
ished in 1772. 
Gabriel, delicate architect that he was, felt 
that the space left for the Place Louis XV. 
by the designers of the previous reign was 
too large and broke it up charmingly by 
' 2 34 
