gare Montparnasse, railway Station in 1852

Last crawled date: 1 year, 9 months ago

A bit of History This is the second Montparnasse railway station replacing the first one built in 1840 (then called embarcadère du Maine) just outside the Paris' walls. This station has been built between 1848-1852 and was known first as 'gare de l’Ouest rive Gauche' (St Lazare was the 'gare de l’ouest rive droite') before to be named gare Montparnasse.2] The station architects were Victor Lenoir and Alphonse Baude (chief Engineer at the Compagnie de l’ouest). the hall (and iron floors) is from Eugene Flachat, The ornamental statues on the clock are from Hubert Lavigne and are supposed to represent the 'industry' and the 'agriculture'. A viaduct was also built (By Baude) to connect the station with the existing railway outside the Paris wall. The station has gone thru 2 major expansions: In 1863, the hall was expanded (it lost its original masonry portal at this time) as well as the lateral pavilions. External staircases and access ramps from Place de Rennes to expanded upper yards were added at this time (Internal staircases then were removed).3] Rue du depart was also enlarged from 10m to 12m.2] Circa 1898 (in time for the 1900 Universal exhibition), yards and access ramps were reversed (access from Bd Edgar Quinet), and additional tracks and platforms were added.6]7] The station has been demolished circa ~1969, the existing one built in 1965 is the third one. The current site is occupied by the Maine-Montparnasse tower and commercial center built in 1969-1973. The model (1852 -1863) Station It is mainly designed from the Moniteur des architectes drawings.1] Some detais like the upper cornice or the support walls for the hall could not have been built as per drawing. Those are then inferred of postcards, lithographies,10]11] drawings,12] and photographies, including one of Marville circa 1871 (after la Commune), one of the Roger Viollet/Leon Levy collection circa 1860 ( Vue panoramique prise du chemin de fer de l'Ouest ) and others. Mashable provides good definition pictures of the 1895 accident. 1] has been cross checked with subsequent drawings like found in 6] (1898 alteration) or 15] (paper on the 1895 accident). Exact dimensions coming from 1] are reported in 'dimension' layer. Internal elements (such as the Polonceau trusses for the Hall, and inside partitions), and other complex elements, such as the statues (model based on another one from Friskie Dingo ) are also in separate layers. Shape and size of the lower and upper yards, as well as ancillaries buildings are inferred of the Paris cadastral map, a 1852 district map 16], a circa 1860 military map ('carte d'etat major' map available at IGN) and are cross checked with the roger viollet picture and 1]. Viaduct (before 1899) Foot print (arches…) from Paris cadastral maps, some dimensions from 17] and shape of the arches from 2]3]17] and postcard 468 . dimensions provided in 14] matches only for the central pedestrian arch width. Terrain The topography has been severely modified in the 1965s....so the original topography has been inferred of elevation as provided by IGN (for location known unmodified, such as Bld Montparnasse), and contour lines as provided by the 1860 military map (it provides the normal to the isophyses). street widths are provided by 5]. The building is mapped on the map provided by 15] (which presents the 1863 alteration) with some 1830-1860 cadastral information overlay. Rail level is at 57.32m, street level (Montparnasse boulevard) at 48.29m, as reported by 15], 50m70 on Bld Edgar Quinet as reported by 17]. Also, 14] reported that Avenue du Maine has been lowered by 1m to provide enough clearance below the viaduc. 1] Moniteur des architectes , 9ieme volume, 15 Janvier 1852 planches 97 a 108 2] Henri Gourdon de Genouillac, Paris à travers les siècles, tome 5, Paris, 1882, p 140 3] Journal des chemins de fer, des mines et des travaux publics, 1865, p208 5] Ville de Paris, Nomenclature des voies publiques et privées, avec la date des actes officiels les concernant. Chaix Paris, 1881 6] Le Magasin pittoresque, Les transformations de la gare Montparnasse, 1898, p396 7] Le Chemin de fer, 8ieme annee, numero 359, 19 Aout 1899, p 3 8] Auguste Charles Joseph Vitu, Paris: 450 dessins inédits d'après nature, Maison Quantin, 1889, p275 9] Léo Lespès,et Charles Bertrand, Paris-album: historique et monumental divisé en vingt arrondissements (mauvaise gravure de la gare en 1852) 10] Adolphe Joanne Paris illustré: nouveau guide de l'étranger et du parisien, Hachette, 1863, p CVI (gare avant 1863) 11] Adolphe Joanne, Environs de Paris illustrés, Hachette 1872, 106 (station after 1863, but portal before 1863 p107) 12] Léon Leymonnerye, Gare de l’ouest (depart et place du Maine), 1876, Musee carnavalet, Paris 13] Alfred Delveau , Histoire anecdotique des barrières de Paris, E. Entu Paris, 1865 p.265 14] Daly, Revue generale de l'architecture et des travaux publics, 8ieme volume, Paris 1849, p 45-46 15] Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères, tome 28, n1, n699, 2 Novembre 1895 p1-5 16] Apur, Montparnasse: Analayse et diagnostic du quartier Montparnasse, 2005 17] Jules Hervieux, Le chemin de fer métropolitain municipal de Paris. Ligne circulaire n° 2 (rive gauche), ligne n° 3, du Boulevard de Courcelles à Ménilmontant. Résultats de l'exploitation. Tome2 Atlas, 1908, planche 18 #chemin_de_fer #embarcadere #gare #histoire #Montparnasse #ouest #Paris