Hector Guimard

The architect Hector Guimard designed a number of buildings in Paris in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was the foremost architect of a style known as French art nouveau. And although few people know of him, more people see his works every day than probably any other architect in history: he designed the art nouveau entrances to Paris metro entrances, so millions of Parisians see his work every day.

A couple years ago we took a walking tour of the 16th arrondisment here in Paris (on the western edge of "downtown" and on that walk saw Guimard's most famous building. This arrondisement contains the two old villages of Auteuil (pronounced just as it's spelled, our friend Mary says: Oh-toy) and Passy, and is interesting in that parts of the area still have a village-like feel. We wanted to return to the 16th.

While preparing for this trip, Laurie found a book of Paris buildings and monuments, written by an architect, who also illustrated the book with drawings of each building and monument described; the book contained about a dozen Guimard buildings, all in the same area of the 16th. So off we went today, looking for Guimards.

Guimard was part of the Art Nouveau movement of his time, which emphasized organic forms and abstract floral designs. One of the first buildings we came to was a house he designed, and we think it is one of the prettiest houses ever. Pictures don't do it justice, but here's one anyway:

It seems to us (we are far from being experts on architecture) that every part of this building is perfect, eveything just works together beautifully. We decided that this is the house we want to live in. That it's in the middle of a rather nice part of Paris, inside a gated community, makes me think it might be beyond our means... There may be other Guimard buildings bigger and better known, but this one will always be our favorite.
Some more pictures of other Guimard designs in Autueil:

If you've ever seen the Moderisme buildings of Barcelona, you'll recognize this style. In France the movement was called "French Art Nouveau" and Guimard was the leading architect of that style.

Sadly, Guimard fell out of favor in the 1920s. Many of his buildings were demolished; the one considered to be his best is known only through photographs and drawings. In 1938 he moved to New York, believing that the anti-Semitism of the Nazis would cause problems for him and his Jewish wife. He died in New York in 1942, not at all impoverished, but certainly unknown. Only in the last 40 years or so has his work received the attention it deserves.