February 2009

21-21 bis rue Pierre Leroux (7th arrondissement)

Lahire Paul was both the owner and the architect of this double building, located in a very small street in the seventh arrondissement. He did publish the application for building permits, 11 November 1907. At first glance, the building does nothing stands out in its environment, nor by sharp protrusions, or by a particular decorative luxury.
Nevertheless, having its facade entirely covered stoneware tiles by Alexandre Bigot could signal his work as a daring, like the buildings already constructed by Julius Lavirotte between 1900 and 1904, with the same ceramist or the street-Claude Chahue, designed by Charles Klein, conducted in 1903 in collaboration with Emile Muller. But he has, in fact, as a transitional work between the innovative building brothers Perret Street Franklin - also from 1903 - which he adopts the sober and even some decorative elements in the form of pellets, mostly visible in panels inspired vegetable and beautiful building with artist studios Andre Arfvidson the Rue Campagne-Premiere (1911), where the ceramic coating makes extensive use of a geometric arrangement. The involvement of Bigot, in these projects, giving them an obvious formal relationship it is not difficult to raise.

Essentially, the building is covered with tiles Lahire geometric cream or blue sky very discreet, limited to incised interlocking circles to form rosettes. It seems to me that this party, both sober and well-covering, may have been inspired by similar experiments were attempted, a few months ago, by Gentil and Bourdet, authors of fine ceramics buildings Bouwens van der Boijen du quai Anatole France . Nevertheless, Consoles balconies are richly decorated with motifs of scales and shells, leaves of chestnut or simply different colored tablets. Some strips hint at very discrete snails, and the keystone of both front doors adorned with a large chafer brown on blue.

These few figurative elements remain in a deliberately limited range of colors, dominated by brown, white, blue and green. Thus, the building has no extravagance of color, nothing ostentatious or aggressive, so that one could possibly pass by without really looking. This would damage both its decor deserves to be among the finest achievements of architectural ceramics of Paris, despite the notoriety of his confidence remained fairly architect.

PS: You must have been surprised - and perhaps frustrated - not to see news on this blog for two months. At this, several reasons: First, I wanted to finish the publication of applications for building permits on "Paris under construction" (which is now done). Then I thought there was already so much to read than you would probably not notice the silence ...
But some of you have come forward. So I have to confess that, lately, personal problems have taken away all the fun of writing. I am back. Deduct it what you want ... and you are right.