Parc Monceau, located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris is the first of four parks to be constructed or remade as part of Baron Haussmann’s transformation of Paris. The site was a garden originally a garden, built in the 1770s near the village of Monceau, which was then outside of Paris, to the northwest (Hays 447). The garden was planned by the artist Carmontelle, under the patronage of the Duc de Chartres, and featured a sprawling, playful design over some twenty-eight acres. Most distinctive about Monceau was the large number of whimsical structures – inspired by both English and French garden design (Wiebenson 315) – including a ruined castle, dutch windmill, water wheel, merry-go-round, and other fanciful additions spread over the sprawling property.
As the city grew around the park and assimilated the village that gave it its name, the Duke’s family sold off lots to various developers, reducing its size by half. Nonetheless, when the city purchased the rest of the park in 1860, it “offered an opportunity to preserve for the public a ready-made park in the center of [Paris]” (Schenker 209). The redesign of the park in 1861 was managed by Adolphe Alphand, the head of the Department of Parks and promenades, along with his architect, Gabriel Davioud (Kirkland 202). They had two paved laneways put down to bound the park – which had a trapezoidal shape – and erected ornamental iron fencing around it, with impressive wrought iron gates embellished with gold (“Parc Monceau”).
Parc Monceau was one of the first great successes of the Haussmannian transformation of Paris (Kirkland 202). When opened, the public was treated to a lush, transportative green space that had not existed in Paris up to that point. Paved pathways wound about the streams, ponds, wooded areas, and led strollers past the various follies – small decorative constructions – including statues, arches, pedestrian bridges, along with the classical colonnade, egyptian pyramid, and other structures from Carmontelle’s original Jardin. Today, the park is open to the public from sunrise to sunset, features tours and wireless internet, and can be accessed directly from the Monceau metro station (“Parc Monceau”).
- Hays, David. “Carmontelle’s Design for the Jardin de Monceau: A Freemasonic Garden in Late-Eighteenth Century France.” American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 32.4 (1999): 447-462.
- Kirkland, Stephane. Paris Reborn: Napoleeon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013. Print.
- “Parc Monceau.” Parisinfo.com. Retrieved from http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71356/Parc-Monceau. Web. 18 March 2014.
- Schenker, Heath Massey. “Parks And Politics During The Second Empire In Paris.” Landscape Journal 14.2 (1995): 201-210.
- Wiebenson, Dora L. “The Parc de Monceau and its Garden Structures.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 34.4 (1975): 286-318.
