Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des ... · Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque The Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867) Influential developments in landscape

Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867)Author(s): Ann KomaraSource: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 58, No. 1, Construction and Context(Sep., 2004), pp. 5-12Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools ofArchitecture, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40480519 .

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ANN KOMARA

University of Colorado- Denver

Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque The Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867)

Influential developments in landscape architecture paralleling those in architecture, industrial design, and engineering occurred during the French Second Empire (1851-1870). The civil engineer J.CA

Alphand oversaw the design and construction of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont located in Paris's 19th arrondissement. The park opened concurrently with the Exposition Universelle on April 1, 1867; it is the only extant installation associated with the exposition. The park demonstrated advances in

landscape design through numerous innovations in construction and materials, particularly concrete.

Alphand's theoretical treatise and the physical presentation of the park as an engineered landscape fundamentally shifted the practice of landscape design.

Introduction Napoléon III and his cadre of administrators, engineers, and designers wrought dramatic changes in

the appearance of Paris during the Second Empire (1851 -1870). Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand (1817-1891) played a significant role. Trained as an

engineer at the École des Ponts et Chaussées, he

became Director of Parks, Bridges, and Roads under

Prefect Eugene Haussmann.1 The conception and

construction of his projects situate Alphand's influ-

ential developments in landscape design firmly within the context of nineteenth-century design

theory and advances in engineering and architec-

tural design. Alphand's Pare des Buttes Chaumont

(1867) exemplifies Napoléon Ill's desire to further

industry and commerce through showcasing advances in industrial materials and innovative

building practices and technologies.2 (Figure 1 .) Literature on the Parc des Buttes Chaumont

originates with Alphand's influential treatise, Les

Promenades de Paris (1867-1873), in which he

records the technological emphasis of his many projects.3 No previous studies have addressed Alphand or his signature role as a chief designer in the Sec-

ond Empire. Mention of the Buttes Chaumont gen-

erally falls into three categories: guidebooks and

general descriptions, overviews of the projects of

Haussmann or Alphand, and critiques of the park

within the broader context of the urban design pro-

gram initiated under Napoléon III.4 As overseen by Haussmann, the urban design campaign during the

Second Empire was enacted with dedication, focus, and vision. No single reason spawned the park; rather, it arose within the constellation of ideas,

influences, and urges surrounding the urban design

campaign. These include martial, economic, sanitary, social, and aesthetic agendas such as Napoleon's desire to maintain order and a visible government

presence, the incentive to clean up the slums and

bring "green lungs" producing healthy air for the

city, and the aesthetics and ¡mage of the city. No

scholarship focuses directly on the Pare des Buttes

Chaumont, although Marceca and Meyer emphasize it, and most sources mention it as one of the great achievements of the era.5 Within the context of this

paper, Marceca is most relevant for her allusions to

the technological associations with the 1987 Expo- sition Universelle. Nicholas Green's work identifies

the transformation of the picturesque idiom from a

residential to an urban aesthetic tied into experiences of visual consumption.6 Antoine Picon's

excellent work on engineering and landscape design within the École des Ponts et Chaussées informs my

interpretation of the "engineered picturesque" within Alphand's metier. In short, the significance of

the Parc des Buttes Chaumont's designed urban

landscape lies in its conception and construction

and how it influenced popular acceptance of new

industrial materials by demonstrating their aesthetic

merits.

Alphand transformed an old refuse dump and

quarry site in the newly annexed industrial area of

the 19th arrondissement in northeast Paris into the

Parc des Buttes Chaumont.7 The park shared an

opening day with the Exposition Universelle and

remains today as evidence of many of the new

materials and technologies displayed in the halls

and grounds of the exposition.8 In response to the

Exposition's theme of art and industry, the two sites

demonstrated the results of new or improved con-

struction practices and improvements or innovations

in equipment and systems, as well as a broad range of materials and products. The park engaged new

materials and construction practices in many ways. This included using steam-powered machines for

earthwork, connecting to the extended and improved

city-wide sewer and drainage systems, the introduc-

tion of cast iron gaslights and macadamized roads,

hydraulic pumps installed to create water cascades, new tree-planting machinery and recent developments in uses of hothouse and exotic plants, and

an arrosage, or integrated irrigation system.

Alphand's design approach at the Buttes

Chaumont commenced with earthwork and site

5 KOMARA Journal of Architectural ÄJucation,

pp. 5-12 © 2004 Ann Komara



1 . Bird's-eye view of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, from Adolphe Alphand, Les Promenades de París, Paris, 1867-1873.

configurations for water features; overlaid on the

landform, the circulation system was calculated to direct the visitor's experience of the site. Planting and site furnishing completed the picture. Conceiv-

ably, a contemporary visitor would have been aware of the fabricated elements of this picturesque land-

scape; this quality was especially present in the various applications of concrete. Concrete is, in fact

integral to the entire park; it is present in every aspect of the designed landscape that Alphand inscribed onto the former quarry.

Concrete was not a new building material, but

developments by the mid-nineteenth century led to the production of a fairly consistent quality of

cement, and "from about 1850 onwards, for nearly all purposes, Portland cement came to be preferred to other artificial cements, natural cements, and

hydraulic limes."9 The Pare des Buttes Chaumont

features three significant modes or applications of béton (concrete): functionally, as the impervious lin-

ing for water rills and the lakebed; decoratively as stuc ciment (stucco cement) embellishments; and

structurally as béton armée (reinforced concrete) for numerous features and design elements.

Functional Applications of Concrete Alphand's initial studies of the geology and physical capacities at the Buttes Chaumont site made it clear that any water features such as the lakes so popular in the picturesque idiom would require extensive

adaptations.10 A water feature could not simply be

dug and filled because of the extremely porous limestone substrata. Site drainage and construction of the lakebed were further complicated by an over-

lay of muck resulting from the city's use of the

quarry site as a dump. Based on experience gained during his remedial work at the Bois de Boulogne, Alphand lined the Buttes Chaumont's lakebed with béton, an impervious concrete material. As an engineer trained at the École des Ponts et Chaussées, Alphand knew béton as a highly refined hydraulic lime concrete perfect for this application.11 Béton was first recognized in the mid-eighteenth century for its capacity to cure and harden in water and found its earliest application in bridge foundations. Over the next century, the material became more

widely used by engineers and architects. For instance, an 1866 article, "Concrete for Seaworks," in The Builder highlighted innovative research by the French engineer, M. Poirel, on physical proper- ties and potential uses for water-cured lime cement.12 In Second Empire building projects,, béton was used for applications with high water or moisture such as the sewers and reservoirs, as well as for

bridge foundations and the quays of the Seine.

Alphand's use of hydraulic concrete as a lining for the artificial lake in the extant quarry bed at the

park solved his functional requirements for creating a water- retentive lake within the site conditions described earlier. Alphand thus used his engineering skills to create the central focus of the park's picturesque landscape.13 The picture postcard from the "Tout Paris" series at the turn of the century clearly shows the lakebed's lining in an area partially drained to allow for maintenance work.14 (Figure 2.) Also significant is the concrete sill or curb with which Alphand detailed the edge of the lake; through the artifice of the hard-edged curb he

places the fabricated condition of the Buttes Chau- mont's lake directly into view. The lake is not sup- posed to be understood as a naturally occurring body of water so integral to the formula of the picturesque, but rather as a constructed, pleasurable amendment of the site. The delineated edge distin-

guishes the lake from water features with softened and screened edges described in British picturesque treatises of the eighteenth century and aligned it

Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque: 6 The Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867)



with the French nineteenth-century jardin irrégulier described by Alphand in Les Promenades. }S As a constructed feature, the lake reinforced the mes-

sage embodied in Alphand's investigations of materials and artificial nature and demonstrated the

Exposition's theme of art arid industry.16 Alphand's aesthetic and practical treatment of

the lakebed and edge found common acceptance in

practice through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his 1879 treatise L'Art des Jardins, Edouard André discusses the shape or outline of water features, then devotes several pages to

bétonnage and the design and construction of various edge types.17 The number of hard-edged lakes in urban parks rose significantly by the end of the nineteenth century. Thomas Mawson (1861-1933), an English landscape architect and town planner, employed it in many of the urban parks he

designed, including a particularly well defined hard

edge for the lake in Williamson Park in Lancaster.

Decorative Applications of Concrete Visitors to the park would also have been very aware of the numerous examples of stuc ciment, a

relatively loose or wet mix of cement, sand, and lime that was artistically applied over a foundation of masonry, rock, or concrete. Its origins are lost in

antiquity; versions of stucco material were applied to exterior wall façades as a rendering or protective coating and for architectural features in lieu of stone. More consistency in the formula arrived with

English patents (Wark's in 1765 and Liardet's in

1773), both of which were acquired by the Adam brothers and used extensively in their architectural

projects of the late eighteenth century.18 What is significant for Alphand's oeuvre is the

translation of this material into landscape applications.19 Stuc ciment in the form seen at both the

Exposition Universelle and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont appeared in France around 1824, and its

2. Lake of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont.

(Tout Paris series photographic postcard.)

popularity expanded by 1850.20 The evolving use and value of this material is evident in landscape design treatises during the Second Empire and after. For example, in L'Art des Jardins André refers to stuc ciment in the sections detailing racailles grot- tes, or rockwork grottos, and for creating rochers, described as ornamental rock created from a mixture of limestone and clay, hand sculpted and laid or

artistically molded.21 Simulated rockwork spread to the United States for use on estates and in public parks. Jacob Weidenman (1829-1893) includes a section in his Beautifying Country Homes in which he describes "artificial rock-work . . . laid up in cement in a natural form . . . [with] its surface cov- ered by a wash of cement [to which] some coloring may be added."22 The general intention found in all treatises discussing rockworks is that the materials chosen should as best as possible simulate rocks or

geologic variants of the in situ conditions to thus

convey an impression of authentic, natural materials. At the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, the crafts-

man Hilaire Muzard (1841-1893) created many beautiful works of art using stuc ciment to achieve effects of naturalness or rusticity.23 The park con- tains many examples of stuc ciment in conjunction with cast or molded concrete, as applied to merge new "rockwork" surfacing with the existing in situ rock and as installations of rocailles and rochers. Numerous rochers installations in the park are linked to water features, such as a viewing terrace at the western water source. Stuc ciment throughout the

park resulted in,

an imitation of nature accomplished first of all

by the simulation of stone in all its different

shapes and forms and according to its various uses: flagstone paving, fallen rock to form a

7 KOMARA



crevice or to hold a torrent of water, an under-

ground passage adorned with rocks, [and] rockwork on the edges of the abutments to the suspension bridge.24

On the central island, the "foundations of

rough stone bedding were composed of limestone found on the site, grouted with cement and occa-

sionally water-colored with a mixture of yellow ochre, smoke black and green."25 The artistic effect

produced imitation stonework that simulated the

existing rock, although British landscape gardener William Robinson implied that it was not too skill-

fully done when he acidly noted that "the chief feature of the place is the great cliff, and unhappily the chief feature of the rock is plaster."26 (Figures 3 and 4.) In contrast, André states that the imitation rockwork ". . . so well [imitated] the coarse limestone and plaster gypsum which formed the soil and subsoil of the old quarries" as to seem completely natural.27

Today it is possible to discern the fake from the original rock, especially near the suspension bridge. The pair of abutments for the suspension bridge that connects paths to the island shows not

only the cementaceous surfacing on the rock but also the joint where the new material meets the

existing limestone face of the quarry remnant. (Fig- ure 4.) Though their appearance echoes those of the in situ formation, the texture and surface treatment identifies the abutments as imitations of the calcareous rock, and their fabrication and position- ing relate to requirements for the bridge. Alphand hid the necessary structural deadmen bolting the cables into the existing rock face within the abutments.28 Their obviously artificial nature highlights the suspension bridge's point of attachment to the

quarried cliffs of the Buttes Chaumont. Alphand's choice to treat this connection as an artistically rendered visual moment in the visitor's experience of the park reflects his conscious marriage of an engineered technological solution with an artistic reference to the site's geologic history, a gesture com-

monplace in picturesque gardens.

Other details throughout the park marry natural rock with man-made, artistically applied concrete and cement-based mixes to achieve the desired natural picturesque effect. Stuc ciment was used to create the cascade, a feature that was unnatural

given the soil and hydrological conditions of the site. Despite the fabrication of the feature, the illu- sion of the cascade grotto fascinated visitors who discovered it "in the valley . . . [within] a delightful grotto, the interior of which sparkles with stalactites and stalagmites."29 The stuc ciment work of the

grotto and cascade replicates at a grand scale the imitation stalactites and stalagmites in the Aquaria of the Exposition's Jardin Français which were rendered for an ¡mage in Andre's treatise.30 Robinson deemed the grotto and its geologic imitations ". . . well formed and striking, though hardly the kind of thing to be recommended for a public garden."31 Alphand obviously disagreed; he included similar features in most of his large parks where their presence contributed to his transformation of

picturesque garden imagery. Furthermore, such features placed into the public realm the associated

experience and heightened impressions of the

grotto as an element of geologic historic within the

quarry site. These examples of stuc ciment in its various techniques and applications remain as per- manent installations similar to those showcased in the Aquaria and gardens of the Exposition.

Structural Applications of Concrete In addition to this kind of concrete work, both the

Exposition and the park included elements produced in reinforced concrete. In the 1855 Universal Expo- sition, François Coignet (1814-1888) won bronze medals for his newly patented material, béton pisé, a version of a monolithic reinforced structural concrete.32 Subsequent work by Coignet revealed the structural capabilities of béton as a system of iron- reinforced concrete construction.33 Using iron as a structural reinforcement in masonry countered concrete's inherent tensile stresses.34 Portland cement

3. Belvédère des Buttes-Chaumont seen situated atop the central island. (Postcard Collection Petit Journal.)

alleviated the intrusion of moisture into the hard- ened pours of concrete, thus mitigating freeze/thaw cracking and rusting of the iron that had previously contributed to the failure of the construction. In addition to its impermeability, the ability of Portland cement to cure in a wet situation led to its acceptance and popularity for many uses in the burgeon- ing building campaigns of the Second Empire.




4. View of the suspension bridge showing the fabricated concrete rockwork at the abutment with the island. (Photograph by author.)

The use of béton armée as a building material

gained great favor through the interest and support of the Emperor, thus promoting its acceptance, use, and ultimate popularity. George Collins writes that

The Emperor's interest seems to have con-

ferred a new dignity on concrete, for at the

beginning of the 1870s we find a marked rise

in its social status. Whereas formerly it was

regarded by noble landowners as suitable only for their animals and more humble tenants, it

was now adopted by the gentry as worthy to

be used in the construction of their own man-

sions, and was specified without more than a

passing shudder by the fashionable architects

of the day.35

Supporting this climate of experimentation and

acceptance, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont features

reinforced concrete in a variety of structures such as

the architect Davioud's Tempietto atop the island

and the massive retaining walls lining the railroad

embankment. (Figure 3.) The engineer Coignet worked on numerous projects for the city during the

Second Empire, and the railroad embankment

reflects his involvement at the park.36 What is more

significant, however, is that Alphand moves beyond

using reinforced concrete merely for structures: he

integrated reinforced concrete directly into the

realm of landscape.

Alphand created and installed throughout the

park stair risers and hand railings in reinforced con-

crete that imitate wood logs or tree limbs. Rustic

details and furnishings were common in picturesque

gardens beginning in the eighteenth century, so it is

not unexpected to find them in the Buttes Chau-

mont or other Paris parks of the period. Originally,

designers fabricated rustic elements out of natural

materials such as wood or gnarled roots; however,

by the nineteenth century designers and manufac-

turers were experimenting and creating them out of

new materials such as cast iron and concrete.37

In this light, the confident rendition of the

park details in béton armée embraced a "cutting

edge" process for manufacturing them out of a

newly interesting contemporary material. The most

prominent of these details - the handrails imitating

logs and branches - are sophisticated examples of

iron-reinforced, molded concrete. The railings, typi-

cally posts supporting two cross-rails running paral- lel to the ground, were constructed in sections and

skillfully joined. The architect Louis-Auguste Boileau

(1812-1896) addressed the usefulness of molding methods when he wrote

With regard to forms and decorative appear- ances . . . the true economy of concrete is in

the manufacture of accessory decorative ele-

ments which have to be repeated a large num-

ber of times, and in which costly handcarving [sic] is replaced by factory-made molding.38

Many of these railing details were produced with a "repeat molding" technique, perhaps in situ

rather than in the factory.39 The difficulty in finding the joints between the molded parts shows the high caliber of technical craftsmanship - or artistry -

employed in producing these rails. Visitors would

have been familiar with the railing detail, an identi-

fiable "Alphand trademark," appearing in the Tro-

cadéro grounds across from the exposition, in many of the smaller squares such as Batignolles, and in

virtually all of Alphand's Parisian parks, including

Boulogne (1854-1858), Vincennes (1860-1865), Monceau (1860-1861), Buttes Chaumont, and

Montsouris (1867-1878). Railing details in Mont-

souris display great skill and inventiveness; some

particularly stunning three-dimensional forms reflect

the evolving skill and sophistication in the conception and molding and installation procedures for this

detail.

9 KOMARA



5. View of an integrated cast-in-place concrete stair and cast concrete handrail at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont.

(Photograph by author.)

Other typical imitatio details in Alphand's parks are stair treads, and especially stair risers, fabricated

to look like logs and stone. (Figure 5.) At the

Buttes Chaumont this style of molded edge finish

was used on concrete stair risers for smaller-scale

pedestrian footways often sited to wend upward

through areas of fully planted trees and shrubs up to one of the four highpoints or overlooks. The rus-

ticity of the detail was in keeping with the woodsy,

rambling feeling of the area and trail. Another

instance of fabricated cast-in-place reinforced con-

crete is an ingenious trough for water in the eastern

rill alongside the stairs. Concrete is formed to imi-

tate a natural stone channel and a fabricated tree

stump at the edge of the rill which emanates from a

hidden source to run alongside the path and into

the lake.

Industrial Presence in the Picturesque As derived from the theme of the Exposition Uni-

verselle, industry meant progress for the work of the

people and the products and innovations of an

increasingly technical, mechanized economy. For

Alphand, industry meant the application of science

to the needs of the city; through the creation of the

parks, he applied "the conquests of science and art

to the conditions and health" of the city.40 "Industry" enabled the production of the park and heightened the picturesque image and experience for visitors.

First, industry was expressed through the utili-

zation of contemporary industrial materials and

innovative techniques employed to create and

maintain the park and its picturesque illusions, which are effectively enhanced by the many applications of concrete throughout the park. Within the

nineteenth-century discourse on materials and production practices, the craftsmanship evident in significant elements of the park situates its presence within a cultural response to industrialization that

stressed manual craftsmanship versus machine

reproduction even as Alphand embraced efficiency in certain construction methods. In balance, the

state-of-the-art machinery and installation practices used to create the park - coupled with new indus-

trial products found throughout its landscape - sit-

uate the park at the forefront of a cultural move-

ment seeking to reconcile industrialization and

progress within the experience of nature.41 The

duality present in the park's appearance where

things found in nature look artificial but what's new

looks organic reinforces this and aligns it with the

broader cultural debates embedded within the

Exposition's theme of art and industry. Julie Wosk notes that, at mid-century, critics

and constituents affiliated with the Art-Union Jour-

nal saw the "possibility of reconciliation [of art and

industry]. Artists, it was hoped, would help assimi-

late the new manufactured wares by lending them a

look of taste and elegance . . . [and] lend their tal-

ents to industrial design and form 'more intimate

relations' with manufacturing."42 The Exposition theme succinctly engaged this discourse with the

intent to showcase relationships and interfaces

between the two realms. Alphand's design for the

Buttes Chaumont placed the debate into the public realm via his interpretation of showing art (the pic-

turesque image and experience) as built and sus-

tained by industry (the means and materials of its

production and maintenance). This message was reinforced in the visitor's

experiences within the park, where industry and its

allied technologies were showcased in two key ways. Visitors to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in 1867

found a landscape that epitomized the French

transformation of the picturesque from a private residential style into the richly conceived public

park. Look again at Deroy's bird's-eye view of the

park. (Figure 1.) Moving along the promenades and

footways within the Buttes Chaumont, a visitor

would see carefully sculpted grounds accented by

beautifully planted beds and groves and punctuated with small structures and water features. Upon

reaching a panoramic viewpoint, the visitor could

then see an industrial landscape of train yards, fac-

. tories, and slaughterhouses beyond the borders of

the park that stood in direct contrast to the park's

tightly orchestrated picturesque experience. This

industrialized physical context became a counter-

point to Alphand's representation of nature and

heightened the visitor's understanding of the dia-

logue between the two realms. Both modes of

showcasing contemporary industry and technology reinforced aspects of the national identity associ-

ated with the art and industry of the Exposition Universelle. Furthermore, they demonstrate the ini-

tiative of a design team that embraced nineteenth-

century technical sophistication and industrial

exuberance to create a picturesque landscaped park

replete with illusions of nature requisite to Alphand's

interpretation of the jardin irrégulier. The Parc des Buttes Chaumont can thus be

understood as a key monument in Napoléon Ill's

building campaign. It served multiple purposes, not

the least being an opportunity to demonstrate the

design and technological prowess of his Parisian

corps of designers and engineers. The Buttes Chau-

mont and its counterpart, the Exposition Univer-

selle, not only celebrated new materials and con-

struction techniques and practices; they also

catalyzed a broader public acceptance of such

materials as stuc ciment and béton armée for subse-

quent use in public buildings and landscapes.




Notes 1. Alphand's technical training began in 1834 at the Lycée Charlemagne (Paris). He entered the École Polytechnique in 1835. In 1838, he entered the École des Ponts et Chaussées (est. 1744) to pursue special- ized training for civil and structural engineering. Alphand's curriculum

engaged the most current technology and design theory, especially for

bridges. The head of the school during Alphand's time was Gaspard François Prony (1755-1839). Another influential faculty member was the author of Leçons sur L'application de la Mechanique (1826), C.L.M. Navier. Alphand rose quidcly through the ranks of the civil administrative

service, eventually becoming the Director of Parks after the fall of the Second Empire. The relevance of the École des Ponts et Chaussées for

Alphand's urban design projects cart be extrapolated from scholarship such as Antoine Picon, French Architects and Engineers in the Age of

Enlightenment, Martin Thorn, trans. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) and Antoine Picon and Michel Yvon, L'inégnieur Artiste: Dessins Anciens de l'École des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris: Presses de l'École des Ponts et Chaussées, 1989). 2. Alphand's theoretical position not only reflected his understanding of the lineage of garden history and picturesque design treatises but also his strong technical background. As "the principal engineer by whose

design these happy results have been achieved," he adapted picturesque ideals to his rendition of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont as a jardins irrég- uliers." Bradshaw's Guide Through Paris and Its Environs (London: WJ. Adams & Sons, 1882), p. 85. 3. J.C.A. (Jean-Charles Adolphe) Alphand, Les Promenades de Paris

(Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1984). Facsimile reprint of Les Promenades de Paris (Paris: Éditions J. Rothschild, 1867-1873). In this two-volume catalog raisonné of works he accomplished during Hauss- mann's administration, Alphand celebrates design solutions arrived at

through engineering and design invention. He discusses construction

practices and innovations employed to install and maintain the works, he enumerates and tabulates design materials and elements, and he calcu- lates costs attached to his extensive civic improvements. 4. For a succinct literature review of Second Empire urban design projects, see Heath Massey Schenker, "Parks and Politics During the Second

Empire in Paris," Landscape Journal 14/2 (Fall 1995): 201-19. 5. Maria Luisa Marceca, "Reservoir, Circulation, Residue: J.C.A. Alphand, Technological Beauty and the Green City," Lotus 30 (1981): 57-63; and Elizabeth K. Meyer, "The Public Park as Avante-Garde (Landscape) Architecture: A Comparative Interpretation of Two Parisian Parks, Pare de la Villette (1983-1990) and Parc des Buttes -Chaumont (1864- 1867)," Landscape Journal 10/1 (Spring 1991): 16-26. 6. Nicholas Green, The Spectacle of Nature: Landscape and Bourgeois Culture in Nineteenth-Century France (New York: Manchester University Press, 1990). 7. The 19th arrondissement was annexed by decree on June 16, 1859. The annexation encompassed the outlying suburbs between the wall of the Fermiers Généraux and the wall of 1850; it increased the area of the

city of Paris by more than 1 50 percent and added nearly four hundred thousand to the population. See Roger Kain, "Urban Planning and

Design in Second Empire France," Connoisseur 1 99/802 (December 1978): 236-46.

8. In addition to the Buttes Chaumont, Alphand was in charge of the

design for the Exposition grounds on the Champs de Mars and the Tro- cadéro grounds directly across the Seine from the exposition. He stated

that, "Cet enterprise considérable [the Parc] fut commencée en 1864 et terminée au commencement de 1867: on volut que l'ouverture du parc coïncidât avec celle de l'Exposition universelle." Les Promenades, 203. Additional information on the exposition can be found in Ann Komara, "Art and Industry" at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, MA thesis - Uni-

versity of Virginia (May 2002), 13-29. 9. Charles Singer et al., eds., A History of Technology, The Late Nine- teenth Century, c. 1850-c. 1900, vol. V (London: Oxford University Press, 1 958), 488. Béton was also called Portland cement or hydraulic cement for its ability to cure under water. In 1824, Englishman Joseph Aspdin patented "an improvement in the Modes of Producing an Artifi- cial Stone," a material which he regarded primarily as a stucco material to simulate Portland Stone. 10. In the eighteenth century, water features played a key role in the

picturesque ideal. British theorist Uvedale Price claimed that "the last

finishing to places and pictures is water," with the caveat that the site "

be worthy of the effect. See John Dixon Hunt, The Genius of the Place: The English Landscape Garden 1620-1820 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT

Press, 1988), 352. 1 1 . Alphand was charged with fixing the problem of the lakes at Bou-

logne, which had been poorly engineered by the landscape gardener, Louis-Sulpice Varé. Because of site soil and geologic conditions, water at the Bois de Boulogne would have simply seeped into the water table. See

Georges Eugene Haussmann, Mémoires (Paris: V. Havarrd, 1890-1893). 12. The Builder: An Illustrated Magazine for the Drawing Room, the

Studio, the Office, the Workshop and the Cottage (London), "Concrete for Sea Works" XXIV (June 23, 1866): 469. See also M. Poirel's text- book for engineers in which he described his studies and applications, as well as the formulas and processes for making what he called hydraulic concrete: Mémoire sur la Travaux à la Mer, comprenant l'Historique des

Ouvrages exécutés au Port d'Alger, et l'Exposé complet et détaillé d'un

Système de Fondation à la Mer au Moyen de Blocs de Béton (Paris, 1841). 13. Alphand's interpretation of the picturesque builds on a lineage of French landscape theorists from Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786), Jean-Marie Morel (n.d.) and Pierre Boitard (17897-1859) to Gabriel Thouin (1747-1829), whose work directly predicates Alphand's formal

approach to the park's design. For more detailed distinctions in French

picturesque attitudes, see Nicholas Green, The Spectacle of Nature:

Landscape and Bourgeois Culture in Nineteenth-Century France (New York: Manchester University Press, 1990). 14. Laborers with equipment can be seen in the lower left of the dry lakebed of this period postcard view. 1 5. Les Promenades, XXVII-LXV. Alphand distinguishes thejardins irrég- uliers and jardins anglais from the jardins pittoresque by virtue of fluid

line, restraint, and degree of visual interest. 16. A discussion of the idea of artifice within Alphand's realm of engineering is informed by Antoine Picon, "Le naturel et l'efficace Art des

jardins et culture technologique," in M. Mosser, ed., Le jardin, art et lieu de mémoire (Paris: Les éditions de l'imprimeur, 1995), 367-96. "L'idée

de nature chez les ingénieurs des Ponts-et-Chaussées," A. Corvol, ed., La Nature en Révolution 1750-1850 (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1993), 117-

25,216-18. 17. Edouard François André, L'Art des Jardins: Traité Général de la com-

positions des Parcs et Jardins (Paris: G. Masson, 1879), 450-71. André dedicated his treatise to Alphand, whom he succeeded as Director of Parks. 18. For a summary of natural and artificial cements, see Tom F. Peters,

Building the Nineteenth Century (London, Cambridge, MA: The MIT

Press, 1996), 61-63. 19. Peters, Building the Nineteenth Century, 106. Peters makes an

important distinction between transformation, "when information is altered or remolded while remaining within the borders of a field and

applied to the same object . . . [versus] translated by applying it across a

border, moving it from one field or object to another. In the process of translation the train of developmental thought continues while the focus shifts to a new object." 20. Jean-Marie Jenn, Le XIXe Arrondissement- Une Cité Nouvelle

(■Paris: c. 1988), 68. Author's translation: "Rocaille grotte et stuc ciment . . . sont l'occaision d'aborder un métier apparu vers 1824, qui s'est

dévelopé à partir de 1850, et dont les ouvrages particulièrment nom- breux et de qualité dans le parc des Buttes-Chaumont, celui de 'stuca- teur ciment' pour reprendre l'expression de l'un d'entre eux, Hilaire Muzard (1841-1893)." 21. André, L'art des jardins, 486-520. See also Charles Singer et al., eds., A History of Technology, The Industrial Revolution, c. 1750-1850, vol. IV (London: Oxford University Press, 1958). 22. Jacob Weidenman, Beautifying Country Homes -A Handbook of

Landscape Gardening Illustrated by Plans of Places already Improved (New York: Orange Judd and Company, 1870), 31-32. Weidenmann, a

graduate of the Munich Polytechnic School, designed and executed the construction of numerous public parks after emmigrating to the United States. 23. Jenn, Le XIXe Arrondissement, 68. 24. Idem. Author's translation: "Un mélange de chaux et d'argile sculpté et dessiné à la main ou moulé ortisanelement. L'imitation de la nature se traduit tout d'abord par la simulation de la pierre sous ses différentes formes et selon ses usages divers: dallages, éboulis en vue du former une rocaille ou de conduire un torreat, passage souterrain garni de roches rochers aux abords des culées du pont suspendu." 25. Exhibition on the Pare des Buttes Chaumont, City of Paris: 2000. Author's translation: "Les enrochements sont constitués de roches cal- caire trouvées sur place, jointoyées au ciment et parfois peintes à l'eau avec un mélange d'ocre jaune, de noir de fumée et des vert." 26. William Robinson, The Parks, Promenades and Gardens of Paris, described and considered in relation to the wants of our own cities (Lon- don: John Murray, 1869), 62. 27. André, L'Art des Jardins, 447. Author's translation: "Le parc des

Buttes-Chaumont, où les rochers reproduisant bien la formation du cal- caire grossier et du gypse parisien qui constitué le sol et le sou-sol de ces anciennes carrières." 28. Alphand didn't detail this bridge in Les Promenades, but he included a comparable detail for the "Pont de L'île de Reuilly" suspension bridge and its rock abutments located in the Bois de Vincennes.

11 KOMARA



29. Galignani's New Paris Guide (Paris: A. and W. Calignani & Co., 1868), 452. See also André, L'Art des Jardins, 486-521 . André provided a "recipe" and tips for application and coloring for the stuc ciment in his section on "Travaux d'Execution - Rochers." 30. André featured a full-page image of the grotto and alluded to the

geologic features as "wild nature." André, L'art des jardins, 507. 31 . Robinson, Parks and Gardens, 67. 32. Peter Collins, Concrete, the Vision of a New Architecture; A Study of

Auguste Perret and His Precursors (New York: Horizon Press, 1 959), 28-34. Collins describes Coignet's role in tríe vast building schemes of the Second Empire and notes that Coignet's work received the "respect- ful attention" of the Society of Civil Engineers. Napoléon III had also become interested in the material and personally ordered experiments to be made with various applications of concrete. See also Singer et al., eds., A History of Technology . . . 1750-1850, 448; and Leonardo Bene-

volo, History of Modern Architecture, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT

Press, 1977). 33. Collins, Concrete, 36. Collins details developments shifting between France and Great Britain, with each country offering patents and counter-

patents addressing various capabilities and applications. Following Asp- din's 1824 patent, J.C. Johnson manufactured the first "modern" Port- land Cement in 1844. Coignet took out a British patent for a similar

material in 1855 and continued to develop his techniques for industrial

production. Vying with Coignet, Frederick Ransome opened a large fac-

tory works for his "New Patent Concrete Stone" in 1867. Joseph Tall was the first English building contractor to expand on Coignet's methods. His standardized form works, called "Tail's Patent Shuttering," received a gold medal at the 1867 Exposition Universelle. 34. Singer et al., eds., History of Technology . . . c. 1750-c. 1850, 451 -90. 35. Collins, Concrete, 34, 40-41. 36. I based this assertion on comparisons with other known projects by Coignet. The work on the railroad walls bears much in common with

other Coignet projects such as the Passy Cemetery wall and the reservoir at the Pare Montsouris. Further, Coignet's finances suffered greatly when the city of Paris did not pay him its debts between 1867 and 1871; it thus seems likely that his company, the Société Centrale des Bétons

Agglomérés (founded in 1861), had significant contracts with the city. 37. Robinson mentions rustically detailed outdoor furnishings in his book and particularly notes a cast iron seat from the 1867 Exposition with feet- and armrests rendered as tree branches. Alphand frequently used a version of this bench in the city's parks, including the Buttes Chaumont. Robinson, Parks, Promenades, 564.

38. Collins, Concrete, 34. Quoting Moniteur des Architectes (December 1867), n.p. Collins referred to Viollet-le-Duc, who favored greatly Coig- net's work: "In perfecting this material, M. Coignet has not only given it the principal role in masonry but, as a result of progressive experiments, has rendered it fit to replace the materials employed in our buildings: stone, brick, iron and wood." 39. Alphand doesn't describe the process for making these handrails.

Historically, the detail is linked to Joseph Monier (1823-1906) who patented tubs for orange trees made of concrete with an embedded mesh of iron rods. I examined and photographically documented railings at the Pare des Buttes Chaumont, the Pare Montsouris, the Parc Monceau, and

the Trocadéro on the Passy side (under repair in the summer of 2000). I

could sometimes discern common molds but the general impression is one of a relative lack of repetition. In the few cases in which the railings were in need of repair, the iron reinforcing rods were evident. 40. Alphand, Les Promenades, LIX. 41 . See again Nicholas Green, The Spectacle of Nature. 42. Julie Wosk, Breaking the Frame - Technology and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992), 107, in reference to "The Mutual Interests of Artists and Manu-

facturers," Art-Union 10 (March 1, 1848): 69-70.




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Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des ... · Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque The Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867) Influential developments in landscape