20/9/23 - Heritage - Paris - The disappearance of Paris under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, which we denounced in a book published last year by Belles Lettres, is no fiction, unfortunately, and this disappearance is even accelerating. It’s a disappearance that’s affecting trees and heritage alike, with urban planning gone mad and reminiscent of the worst days of the 60s and 70s.
-
- 1. Planning permission (which will result in the disappearance of the building and the trees)
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
Thus, at the end of June, we discovered a new project, which is certainly not the fault of the Paris City Council, but in which it is participating by having recently granted planning permission, under the obviously indifferent gaze of the State.
The affair, which nobody seems to have mentioned, was prompted by the Institut Curie’s wish to expand at 39 ter rue Gay-Lussac. Rather than reuse the building it owned, it was going to demolish it. This building (ill. 1) is nevertheless very interesting. Built by Roger-Henri Expert, who also designed the fountains at the Trocadéro, its Art Deco style should earn it at least a place on the list of historic monuments.
On 30 January 2020, the Commission du Vieux Paris examined the project, highlighting the importance of this architect "attached to the classical tradition in French construction between the wars" and stating that it "would vigorously oppose [the] permit [if it] were to be submitted in this way". But the City of Paris often doesn’t give a damn about the opinions of this commission, which it can ignore, and does. In 2022, the Commission was astonished that the City of Paris had not forwarded the application for protection as a Historic Monument that it had requested.
-
- 2. Roger-Henri Expert’s Art Deco building threatened with demolition
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
But they’re not just going to demolish the building. They are also going to cut down several trees (sophoras, unless we are mistaken) that have the misfortune to be located where the new, larger building is going to extend (ill. 3 and 4). Once again in Paris, trees are being sacrificed for a property development. Further proof that the so-called greening of the city is nothing but a sham, and that this mayor’s office, which claims to be ecological, is in fact ecocidal.
-
- 3. Trees soon to be felled
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
How can we prevent such an advanced project, for which the trees could be cut down and the building destroyed at any moment? Sadly, this seems highly compromised. Of course, this is not an isolated case. All over Paris, trees are being felled more and more, either because of building projects or because of a lack of maintenance (as was the case this summer on Place Furstemberg, in front of Delacroix’s house).
-
- 3. Tree soon to be felled
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
We are therefore publishing this last-minute article, not to appeal to the town council’s sense of reason - we’ve known for a long time that it has none - but to inform public opinion and our fellow journalists, who are the only ones who can bring pressure to bear by holding the public authorities to account. Can we afford to continue densifying one of the densest cities in the world? Can we allow perfectly healthy trees to be cut down at a time when temperatures are predicted to rise sharply over the coming decades - heatwaves against which trees are a bulwark?
The success of the campaign against the felling of the chestnut trees on rue Préault in the 19th arrondissement - they will eventually be saved - proves that this type of action can work. We’re sounding the alarm, and it’s up to others to take up the baton.