Paris: In Spite of Itself

The Paris that we see, that we walk around in, that charms us so, is the Paris of 1850-1910. The buildings predominantly come from those years, certainly the physical layout of the city itself does. Were Paris to be razed and rebuilt today, odds are a radical change would be made. For the worst, we might decidedly add.

Paris is unique in that it was rather all built, or rebuilt at once. Vestiges of the medieval town are printed on the ground yes, but the typical 6-8 story building comes late in the 19th century. Paris is conspicuous for what it is absent: high rises for a start. There is one, rather out on its own, meant to be a counterpoint for the Eiffel Tower. It is at best mediocre, a blank symbol rather awaiting the wrecking ball. Other clusters of high-rises live in there own districts (Defense) as if quarantined, the majority of the modern, taller buildings, typical 15-20 story mid-rises have been banished to the suburbs.

If this creates the physical Paris that we love, then why am I intoning Paris: In Spite of Itself? This is because the city lives, perhaps unlike Venice or Bruge. Paris is the national seat. All the large corporations retain presences -or so it seemed to me - in central Paris. These organizations now are fighting their physical plant. There is not a large building for them to occupy, or to build. They have to be spread out in multiple locations, crammed into whatever structures they had in the past or anted up to purchase recently. The government buildings are much more spread out that in Washington DC, where they predominate their districts to the exclusions of restaurants and bars. In Paris rather a ministry will have a compound here, the blocks adjacent are typical mixes of housing, services, etc. And that ministry will no doubt have buildings elsewhere, close by, but out the door.

Paris now fights the demands of modern society, of a scope and organizational scale not imagined when Paris was laid in stone. This battle will determine the make-up of the city. For now, the vote is to keep the city as it is. Clearly, were Paris in America it would have been razed by now, and rebuilt with higher density and lower taste. So modern Paris now exists, in spite of its physical plant, in eternal conflict.