Architecture, the City, and the Public in 18th Century France

This anthology seeks to bring together pertinent texts, many translated into English, which help ascertain the true nature of Eighteenth-Century France’s contribution to architectural modernism.

From the first histories of modern architecture through to leading contemporary accounts, the French eighteenth century has consistently been identified as the moment when the story begins. Yet the reasons for assigning Soufflot, Ledoux, Boullee, and their contemporaries this privileged position continue to be reassessed and debated. This research has revealed the eighteenth-century in France as the site of a veritable revolution in architecture - one which affected not only the basic categories of theory and practice, but which extended also to the organization of the profession, the patterns of architectural patronage, and even the possibilities for architectural meaning within the culture as a whole.

Containing over 100 writings ranging from criticism and book reviews to polemics and calls for reform, drawn entirely from eighteenth-century French periodicals, pamphlets, and broadsheets, this collection of articles displays important texts that have fostered a wide-ranging, broad-based public discussion of architecture and the city.