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COPYRIGHT 2001 Becker Associates
Abstract
In 1920, Jacques Greber published what was and still is the largest book on U.S. architecture and urban design ever issued in France. His dual agenda was to stress the impact of Beaux-Arts design methods (presenting his gardens and Philadelphia parkway as highlights of this trend), and to advocate the practical accomplishments of a pragmatic and affluent civilization.
Showcasing an "edited" North American city, devoid of commercialism and filled with civic structures of great dignity and comfort, L'Architecture aux Etats-Unis looked back to ideals and accomplishments of the American Renaissance and ahead to the metropolitan culture of the 1920s. For the first time in France, ventures by U.S. architects in the field of civic art were acknowledged as major achievements. Greber formulated ideas about modern North American civic centres, business districts, parks, and model suburbs that would affect his proposals for Ottawa and on his French career. His book triggered the evolution of French views of the U.S.-built environment toward greater interest and generally more positive views.
Resume
En 1920, Jacques Greber publie l'ouvrage le plus important sur l'architecture et l'art urbain aux Etats-Unis jamais paru en France. Il y insiste sur l'influence des methodes de conception "Beaux-Arts" (en presentant ses jardins et son parkway a Philadelphie comme des points forts de ce courant) ainsi que sur les resultats accomplis par une societe prospere et pragmatique. Presentant une vile nordamericaine "corrigee," denuee de mercantilisme et paree d'edifices civiques d'une dignite et d'un confort superieurs, L'Architecture aux Etas-Unis se penche sur les ideaux et realisations de l'American Renaissance et anticipe la culture metropolitaine des annees Vingt. C'est la premiere fois que le travail des architectes americains en matiere d'art urbain est reconnu en France. Greber formule des idees sur la ville moderne d'Amerique du Nord--ses centres civiques, quartiers de bureaux, parcs, et banlieues modeles--qui auront un impact sur ses projets pour Ottawa et son oeuvre en France. Grace a son livre, les opinion s des Francais sur le cadre bati aux Etas-Unis devinrent plus nombreuses et favorables.
Jacques Greber gained special status among twentieth-century French planners and architects through close ties with the Northeastern United States, which he established as early as 1910. This privileged connection was brought to public attention in 1920 with the publication of L'Architecture aux Etats-Unis, which this article places in a broad historical and cultural context. [1] Greber's book was not devoid of bias and shortcomings proper to an era marked by heightened French chauvinism, German bashing, and a mix of gratitude and disappointment toward Americans. However, anyone familiar with the history of U.S. planning and architecture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will appreciate the overall relevance of Greber's information and the perceptiveness of his analysis.
L'Architecture aux Etats-Unis looked back to ideals and accomplishments of the so-called American Renaissance (1876-1914) and ahead to the metropolitan culture of the 1920s, and placed Greber's early garden and planning work in its proper North American context. It remains to this day a remarkable achievement, and would deserve being reprinted and translated in its entirety. Greber's book definitely filled a major gap. Its comprehensiveness and accuracy set new standards in France, a country that had not kept track of the intense planning and construction activity in North America between 1895 and 1915. [2] In fact, during this period, American urbanism and architecture had mostly been sociological curiosities and objects of self-congratulation or condescension for their indebtedness to Beaux-Arts principles; with the war, information had virtually stopped circulating. [3]
It is indeed a challenge to analyze the content of L'Architecture aux Etats-Unis in a few pages. Issued by Payot, a publisher without a design track record but with a strong scholarly reputation, it consisted of two in-quarto volumes and included 400 illustrations of nearly 130 buildings and plans for six cities, which were for the most part unknown in France. After a brief historical survey, the book divided according to building types. Focusing on the eastern seaboard and Midwest, Greber guided readers from exclusive resorts and suburbs to business districts and civic centres. Determined to emphasize programs "typical" of the New World, he devoted the majority of the first volume to single-family houses and metropolitan hotels. The second volume afforded an overview of a variety of commercial and civic programs--either large structures in metropolitan centres or more modest ones in smaller cities--including office buildings, factories, schools and universities, museums and libraries, churches, military buil dings, hospitals, and state capitols. In a subsequent chapter entitled "Grandes Compositions d'Ensemble," Greber showed urban plans and views of the Chicago and Sari Diego World's Fairs. Finally he illustrated a few commemorative monuments.
Of all architects residing in France, Greber was certainly the best acquainted with the United States. As evidenced by sources listed in his bibliography, he had done his "homework," providing a personal summary of what New York-based architectural reviews had published since 1900. [4] Large photographs were beautifully reprinted, resulting in the high retail price of 150 francs. Floor plans were numerous and highly legible. The rather short, loosely knit text that, according to the author himself, was dictated to a secretary, was delivered in clear and lively prose, accessible to a lay audience. [5]
As indicated in his attention-grabbing and rather pompous subtitle, Preuve de la Force d'Expansion du Genie Francais. Heureuse Association de Qualites admirablement complementaires (Evidence of the Expansion Capability of the French genius. Fortunate Association of Admirably Complementary Qualities), Greber's...
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