Projet pour un immeuble parisien, probablement le 109 rue de Turenne

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Hippolyte-Marie Pigault
Projet pour un immeuble parisien, probablement le 109 rue de Turenne
entre 1876 et 1880
crayon, encre de Chine et aquarelle
H. 59,0 ; L. 77,5 cm.
Achat, 2012
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
Hippolyte-Marie Pigault
Projet pour un immeuble parisien, probablement le 109 rue de Turenne
entre 1876 et 1880
crayon, encre de Chine et aquarelle
H. 59,0 ; L. 77,5 cm.
Achat, 2012
© Musée d’Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / DR
Hippolyte-Marie Pigault (1827 - 1907)

Toward the end of the 1860s, the architect Hippolyte Marie Pigault conceived this large building to occupy a plot of land at the intersection of Rues de Turenne, de Bretagne, and des Filles-du-Calvaire, close to the location where he had just installed his architectural practice.
He adopted the broad principles of Haussmannian Paris, which remained in force in the capital at the start of the Third Republic: strict alignment, the use of stone, uniform elevations, horizontal façades underscored by balconies, decoration reduced to structural details (consoles and bays).
This drawing shows the monumental effect of perspective that such a mode of construction could create. Made particularly picturesque by the inclusion of human figures, this view is remarkable for the time: architects usually produced more modest representations of Haussmannian rental buildings, a common and controlled form that left little room for initiative.
Its architecture almost banal, the Haussmannian rental building is now one of the defining elements of the capital's architectural identity, and a contributor to its very classical urban harmony.

Artwork not currently exhibited in the museum
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