Architect Henri Blondel Page

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Architect Henri Blondel Page

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March 2, 1886
Bourse de Commerce de Paris
(The Paris Produce and Commodity Exchange)
Designed and Constructed by the Architect Henri Blondel

The same expanse where the Paris Stock Exchange was held in 1720, on the site of the Hôtel de
Soissons, was to see the birth of the Bourse de Commerce de Paris (The Paris Produce and
Commodity Exchange). On March 2, 1886, the design and works were commissioned from the
architect Henri Blondel (see lithography above of original project), who also designed the Hôtel Continental, among other edifices.

With the forthcoming Universal Exhibition (World's Fair), many large construction sites
appeared all over Paris, but that of the future Bourse de Commerce was particularly spectacular, reduced to its inside ring, the rotunda supporting the bare dome emerged from the rubble of the Saint-Eustache neighborhood, which was undergoing urban renewal.

Henri Blondel emphasized the utilitarian over the aesthetic by supressing the vaulted grain
storage area and the outside facade. He created a huge basement to hold the ventilation, the
heating, the electricity generators and the enormous cold storage room. He added a mezzanine
and a floor inside the dome. Finally, he constructed a a monumental portico decorated with a
huge allegorical pediment executed by Croissy, representing the City of Paris surrounded by
Commerce and Industry.

The project also included the erection around the building of statues representing the great cities
of France, but the money for the financing was never collected.

The lower part of the dome was covered in brick masonry, on which was hung a huge
canvas-backed painting located twenty (20) meters off the ground, with a surface of 1,400
square meters.

This painting, composed of four panels symbolizing international trade, is a remarkable example
of the decorative painting of public edifices of the time : the "Pompier" style (peinture
Pompier). The four panels are separated by characters painted in trompe-l'oeil style by Alexis
de Mazerolles. This work was carried out between 1886 and 1889.

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