Paris - The Architecture Guide

This guide to the architecture of (mostly) Paris covers nearly two thousand years, from the Roman period to the present day, even including a chapter on "current tendencies". The book is divided into chapters by period, with each chapter opening with a 1-2 page introduction and then a chronological listing of buildings, each with a current color photo, address, dates of construction, architects, a brief description, and statement of significance. In addition, there are longer profiles of major buildings (e.g. Eiffel Tower) and architects (e.g., Haussmann) and appendices with recommended museums, places to eat, detailed lists of buildings for dense areas (e.g., La Defense). The emphasis is on the City of Paris, but it also includes some sites out of town, such as the Palace of Versailles and the Villa Savoye. Buildings (called "objects" in this guide") are indexed by title, by arrondissement, by street, and by architect. The guide includes a wide variety of architecture, including houses, churches, monuments, fountains, schools, civic buildings, museums, bridges, parks, and apartments--it's a good broad introduction to the wide variety of architectural design in the City of Paris.But there are some annoying drawbacks:1. It can be easily carried with you when you're walking the streets of Paris--except it contains no maps. That's a major stumbling block if you're in a neighborhood and want to know what's around you and worth seeing. So frustrating when a map is featured on the book's cover, so you expect to find many of them in the guide (sorry, just the Palace of Versailles).2. Building titles are inconsistent. Sometimes that's due to the translation from French or German to English, so a good editor would have caught this to ensure consistency so buildings can be easily and quickly identified. For example, it's called the "Pompidou Center" in the text but the "Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou" in the index. If you don't happen to know the French name, you won't be able to find it by looking under P in the index.3. Basic information on featured buildings is missing. For example, the Pompidou Center receives a full-page profile, but doesn't include the address, names of the architects, or dates of construction. My sense is that this information was dropped by the graphic designer because they consistently exist as subheadings for the shorter entries.4. Positioning of photographs is inconsistent, so you're not always sure which building is depicted. Sometimes the image is above the title, below the title, or on the opposite page, and since they're not captioned, it takes some figuring (sometimes by process of elimination) to determine which neo-classical building is which among the postage-stamp size photos.Nevertheless, if you're seeking a quick broad overview of Parisian architecture for the last two thousand years, this is a helpful guide (let's just hope the second edition is in the hands of a better editor).

Concise, easy to read, and enjoyable  Paris - The Architecture Guide  contains relevant information on most major, and some minor, structures of Paris. Grouped through a timeline approach, the book leads you through the evolution of architecture and makes longer stops to point out architectural game-changers such as style transitions or influential architects or 'schools.'Great to take along on a visit to Paris for those that find the disection of the built world key to understanding society.

I bought this book as a birthday present for my husband who spent a semester studying Architecture in Paris as part of his Grad program. I wanted something more than a tourist book and less of a textbook. This guide was compact, with a gorgeous layout, and full of information on buildings that you won't find in a tourist guide. My husband was surprised at how useful this book became and he even shared information with the rest of the students in his program.

This is a thorough, comprehensive and well-designed book on a fascinating (and probably inexhaustible) topic, not to mention very satisfying from a book-as-physical-object perspective as well. If you're intrigued based on the title, you won't be disappointed with this purchase.

interesting book...

plus: chronologisch sehr gut strukturiert.minus: überhaupt keine Übersichtskarte dazu, nur ein Index von Gebäuden geordnet nach arrondissements in appendix. Ein Architekturführer mit gut 500 Gebäuden ohne Übersichtskarte ist wirklich unvorstellbar dorf. Ich hatte alle Addresse von Gebäuden in Internet eintippen müssen, und dann auf eine andere Stadtkarte manuell makieren.Papier zwar gute Qualität, aber viel zu schwer für ein Architekturführer. Im vergleich zu Klassiker Reimer deutscher Architekturführer wiegt es viel schwerer. Bildern auch viel zu groß gedruckt.Also: ist ein schöner Versuch, aber als ein Reiseführer wirklich nicht durchgedacht.