Only to French: why there isn't buildings with 20 or more floors in Paris? Are the laws? or is the culture?

Answer 1

O.K., I'm not French, but as a German who studies in Paris I hope I can help you.

Most buildings in Paris' city centre were build in the Haussmann era (1850-1870). It was a regulation, made up by Haussmann in order to harmonize the cityscape, that no building should exceed six floors. Haussmann's architects rebuilded nearly the whole city. In the two World Wars paris was virtually left untouched by air raids, etc, that's the reason why there still are so many Haussmann-buildings left which all follow the same principle:

Ground floor: shops, cafés, restaurants, etc
first and second floor: "Penthouses" with balconies (most popular among the rich as these were the floors you can get to easily without an elevator)
third, fourth and fifth floor: apartements
sixth floor: "chambres des bonnes" (little rooms where the servants lived; today mostly occupied by students - the landlords live - of course - usually in the first or second floor...)

Today these buildings are protected by legislation as cultural heritage and may be modified only under special circumstances and conditions. That legislation exists already since the interwar-period. Often it is more expensive to tear down a Haussmann-building - due to all the regulations - than just to renovate it (but there are some - see links)

Buildings which were built later are most often the same size than the surrounding Haussmann-buildings as the should not exceed these for reasons of architectural harmony (I suppose that there is a law, but I think most architects just don't attempt to build larger buildings as these wouldn't be accepted by the somehow "stubborn" Parisian which take part in the process - neighbourhood commitees, etc)

In the 60s and 70s there were experiments with highrises, but due to there very bad reputation of these (as they weren't - even then - outstanding examples of contemporary architecture) and due to the fact that these buildings destroyed the visual axis (for example the Tour Montparnasse in the south of Paris which dominates the Eiffeltower's background, or the Tour Jussieu - of the universities of Paris - which dominates the quarters around the Pantheon) the construction of these buildings was stopped. In the late 70s and early 80s some apartment highrises were build in the southeast (Place d'Italie - Olympiades) and in the early 2000s the Bibliothèque Nationale Francois Mitternd was inaugurated in Bercy (also in the southeast). These parts of the city were never "haussmannised", so the possibility for experiments are bigger than in the heart of Paris. As these buildings exist or were built not so long ago, I suppose there is no (at least no strict) legislation controlling the height of the building. i think the democratic character of the process is the much higher hurdle.

Paris itself is surrounded by suburban metroplexes (like Marne-la-Valée, Clichy, etc) which only consist of highrise buildings, as these cities were created in the postwar-era for a huge number of future inhabitants...

Hope I could help you; even if I am not French... Please excuse my english, it's not as good as a French's could be! ;P

Answer 2

I'm French living in Paris at the moment.

There's no law as far as I know and there are buildings that go to 59 stories tall. The main reason for the lack of tall buildings is culture or rather the age of the culture. Whereas alot of American cities are brand new Paris is thousands of years old and has alot of old buildings that were made when skyscrapers weren't necessary or even possible.

Answer 3

OK! Here I am, the french girl!...well, we do have an area with high buildings, that's the business center in La Défense. We also have la Tour Montparnasse in the 15th area which have more than 50 floors...
But we appreciate to see the sky and we don't want to ruin the french architecture which is so beautiful...the Haussmanian style as said before me!
Actually, we do have lots of high but not nice buildings in the 13th area which is the Chinese area....there's so many people over there, they had to built some but it's not in the center!

Answer 4

I'm french, and I think, more than 20 floors is ugly in a city...ok in manhattan, it doesn't look bad, but we are use to having houses in town, not big buildings...
but ask to a french architect!

Answer 5

there were not lifts at the time for the inner paris and for the outer why have 20 floors?

Answer 6

try asking french people in french.

Answer 7

do you really care?