Paris: An Architectural History

by Anthony Sutcliffe

In this lavishly illustrated book, one of Paris`s leading historians links the beauty of the city to its harmonious architecture, the product of a powerful tradition of classical design running from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. Anthony Sutcliffe traces the main features of the development of Parisian building and architecture since Roman times, explaining the interaction of continuity and innovation and relating it to issues of power, the social structure, the property market, fashion, and the creativity of its architects.

Genres: Architecture, France, History, Art, Art History, Paris

232 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1993

About the author

A specialist in urban history, architectural history, and the history of urban planning, Anthony Sutcliffe was professor emeritus at the University of Leicester, where he taught from 1988 until his retirement in 1997. Before his appointment at Leicester, Sutcliffe worked as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham from 1966 until 1970, and at the University of Sheffield from 1970 until 1988.

Reviews

[JP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other reviewers have stated my feelings on Sutcliffe's Paris. While he does a very good job at describing the different waves of architectural style in Paris over the last half millennia, the presentation of the book is very dry and academic. The writer also fails (or refuses) to flesh-out the meanings and intricacies of these different waves of architecture, producing a mechanical "A happened. Then B happened. Then C happened, which reminds us of A." without ever discussing the sociological concepts inherent in architectural design. After reading The Glass State: The Technology Of The Spectacle, Paris, 1981 1998 and seeing how much goes into the conception of transparency and technology in glass buildings, I can't help but assume that there must be underlying theories for all of these different schools of architectural design. Sutcliffe's book failed to contain any of them, and I'm left imagining own meanings. For a novice to architecture, this means that I'm not getting out of the expert analysis what I was looking for.

A fine A --> B history, but nothing more.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent a few days picking up free bikes from the Velib system and riding through the Parisian districts. This book gave me a scholastic historical background on each of Architectural movements and how they are delineated through the districts, along with great photography. However, it wasn't travel-friendly like a lonely planet guide, no addresses were listed, just names of buildings and without maps. If you're looking for an architectural tour try something else.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry, but great for the serious scholar of Parisian architecture through the ages. Not an archtectural tour, but excels at explaining how one architectural period morphed into the next.

[Lesley Bell]

technical and scholarly: this is a book that I keep for reference. Each chapter is an essay on a particular topic, so it is not a history that flows from a to b.