HOUSING RELIEF

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 148, 19 December 1929, Page 7

HOUSING RELIEF

SCHEME FOR PARIS

MILES OF SKYSCRAPERS

TARDIEU'S PROGRAMME

Andre Tardieu, Minister of the Interior, is sponsoring a plan for the immediate construction of a straight road, running from the Arch "pi Triumph in Paris to the centre of the little town of St. Germain, twenty-fiva kilometres, about twenty miles, away. This road is to be lined on both sidei by twenty-five-story blocks of flats. This latest project for the relief; of traffic congestion and housing shortage in Paris, says a writer- in an. overseas journal, has the advantage of being sponsored by a man who is popularly known as "Tardieu, the American." The nickname was won by the Minister for carrying out a vast scheme of electrification of France's railways, while half the members of Parliament could not make up their minds as" to the advisability, of the'move. He further modernised the 'road-system of? France. - . •'-' While innumerable schemes for housing relief have been submitted to the Paris authorities, and public, none, has received such immediate' and approval as Tardieu's, mainly because his great roadway, to Sti Germain does not envisage tearing down any o£ the older parts of the French- capital,'a feature of most of the other schemes. The Parisians may be hard pressed for room within tho comparatively .narrow limits set by the''old lines of fortifications, but they join the. whole .of France when it comes to protesting against tearing down historic.: landmarks and entire blocks of churches, palaces, and slums. v'■.'.-' OLD PARIS UNTOUCHED. . Tardieu Js scheme gets away from trying to settle the problem of Paris congestion .on the old territory,: and places at by one vigorous stroke-of the pen completely out of reach by: archaeologists and' historians. : Besides'-?-the old Paris, with its incredible labyrinths of streets and streetlets,;; historic monuments and sentimental associations with the past," he-is going =.to build a new Paris, airy and roomy, capable of housing with comfort;-half a million people, and more as r -time goes on. This new area is to be served with the most modern-rapid transit service. . '." ' '"' Tardieu's project, which awaits.rati•fieation by the French Pariiament,T a matter that is expected to come about this autumn, is really a-plan resurrected from the time of Louis 23TWV The great Louis and his engineers foresaw the day when Paris would nbt.be .capable of holding its ever-increasing population. They thought of 'constructing suburban settlements .along "thejroad to St. Germain. The lack of rapid" transit in those_ days and the repugnance of the Parisian to dwell outside tha walls made their scheme unrealizable. Napoleon also thought of it,'- and his Avenue de la Grande Armee; the-mag-nificent thoroughfare behind the: Arch." of Triumph, is to serve as the first link in the great highway that .Tardi^d: exjiitemplates. . \ -■''":.-;■., ■' The total cost of construction •of the road, asphalt covered, amounts to approximately £1,500,000. To. \ this must be added the • purchase.: of: land and right of way, which; it is calculated, will bring the total close 'to £12,----000,000. If the city of Paris decides to take the responsibility for the .carrying out of the vast undertaking, it will mean an increase of 3j centimes additional taxation per annum "for every taxpayer in the capital;'. v ; - While the_ city of Paris' debases ""on the advisability of launching itself' in this scheme, Tardieu' is already busy, buying up land and the right of way for his skyscraper boulevard that is to astonish the world. .He Tras also given, permission for the formation "of a synr dicate for the building of Jhe-lane; of blocks of flats. The great difficulty to be experienced by the syndicate lies in the acquisition of private property, along the roadway. Owners, however, have already been discreetly informed that in the event of a. refusal:.to.cooperate in a matter which is considered of national importance,; the - Government will proceed to expropriatip&>MODEL OF URBAN DEVELOP*" MENT." ■" :../■-:■: ' Tho great benefit, attached r to Tardieu's scheme, in so far as health cpnditions are concerned, is-in, the^fact that the proposed highway, runs from one forest to' the other, from the Bois de Boulogne to the gigantic forest;of St. Germain, once the private'hunting property of King Francois I."-; This, region has . hitherto been kept ..clear of industrialisation, the factories having been built mostly north of-- the city. The immense rows. of flats will, therefore, practically pass through, a -legion of solid gardens. : -' •- "When the road is completed,'-' says Tardieu, "we will have achieved something that no people in the'courßevof history have done. It will be a model of urban development and will determine the nest half century of city, planning just as Baron' Hausmann's' streets and boulevards have guided town planners elsewhere during the past fifty years." The road will be flanked. oh each side by elevated pavements and • a bridge across alternating with level crossings at each block. A parkway, will run in the centre. This parkway, also will be.elevated above the nibtqrcar driveway. Under the rpadway a fast underground service will be inaugurated consisting, of two superimposed tunnels. For the first time Paris will have an express service underground, one of the tunnels to be utilised solely for rapid transit and the other for local connections. The most remarkable feature envisaged for the Paris-St. Germain roadway; is the absence of cross-street traffic. No turnings of any kind will be permitted. : " ■ - L\ All the beauty experts and aesthetics who have been howling for years against the building of a single house above five stories, on the ground that anything higher would deface the beauty of Paris, have been silenced once and for all by Tardieu's statement that the five-story house, is antiquated and that Paris must get used to the idea that it is going, to haVi skyscrapers, just, like American cities. Twenty of these new blocks of flats on each-side of tha road are to be built at once. Others are to follow until both sides of the twenty-mile roadway are covered from Paris to St Gerinain As a result of the proposed building, St. Germain, which has hitherto maintained its dreamy medieval atmosphere, is awakening and starting a building programme of its;own, as the citizens realise that their town will become the terminus of the most radical modern experiment ever" attempted m Europe. ".".,.... ■