The name of the architect Victor Baltard is inseparable from the Halles Centrales of Paris, the complex of iron-and-glass pavilions built between 1854 and 1874 in the historic heart of the city. Making Modern Paris is the only comprehensive study to address systematically not only the role Baltard played in the markets' design and construction but also how the markets relate to the rest of Baltard's work and professional practice. Christopher Curtis Mead interprets the Central Markets as a cogent expression of Baltard's professional experience as he adjusted his academic training to new criteria of municipal administration, urban planning, and building technology. Considering his entire career over the three decades he worked for the Prefecture of the Seine, this investigation of how architectural and urban practice came together in Baltard's work offers a case study of the historical process that produced modern Paris between 1840 and 1870.

About the Author

Christopher Curtis Mead is Regents' Professor of Architecture and Professor of Art History at the University of New Mexico.

Reviews

"This book promises to make an important contribution to the literature on nineteenth-century French architecture."

-Kevin Murphy,CUNY Graduate Center

"Finally we have a thorough and nuanced monograph on the architect Victor Baltard, his contribution to the design of the world's most renowned public market, and his rightful place-and that of his oeuvre, including the markets-in shaping the modern French capital."

-Helen Tangires,Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

"In this outstanding work of scholarship, Mead (Univ. of New Mexico) subjects the career of Victor Baltard, architect of Les Halles, the Central Markets of Paris, to an examination that commences with a discussion of the skepticism that has hovered over Baltard's reputation since the 1870s. . . . Highly recommended."

-J. Quinan Choice

"Mead's Making Modern Paris effectively situates Baltard's achievement fully within the currents of his period and demonstrates how the intellectual environment and administrative structures within which he worked contributed to shaping his approach to design."

-Christopher Drew Armstrong caa.reviews

"The great value of Mead's meticulous study resides in his expert demonstrations of Baltard's exceptional sensitivity to history and to historical context. These constitute a valuable contribution to our understanding of the architect's approach, and help open our eyes to heretofore obscure aspects of midnineteenth-century French planning more broadly."

-Richard Wittman Oxford Art Journal

Awards
Winner of Alice Davis Hitchcock Award 2015.



Book Information
ISBN 9780271050874
Author Christopher Curtis Mead
Format Hardback
Page Count 324
Imprint Pennsylvania State University Press
Publisher Pennsylvania State University Press
Weight(grams) 1542g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 229mm * 29mm