Architecture and Urbanism in the French Atlantic Empire: State, Church, and Society, 1604-1830: Volume 1 (McGill-Queen's French Atlantic Worlds Series) - Hardcover

Bailey, Gauvin Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773553142 ISBN 13: 9780773553149

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Spanning from the West African coast to the Canadian prairies and south to Louisiana, the Caribbean, and Guiana, France's Atlantic empire was one of the largest political entities in the Western Hemisphere. Yet despite France's status as a nation at the forefront of architecture and the structures and designs from this period that still remain, its colonial building program has never been considered on a hemispheric scale. Drawing from hundreds of plans, drawings, photographic field surveys, and extensive archival sources, Architecture and Urbanism in the French Atlantic Empire focuses on the French state's and the Catholic Church's ideals and motivations for their urban and architectural projects in the Americas. In vibrant detail, Gauvin Alexander Bailey recreates a world that has been largely destroyed by wars, natural disasters, and fires – from Cap-François (now Cap-Haïtien), which once boasted palaces in the styles of Louis XV and formal gardens patterned after Versailles, to failed utopian cities like Kourou in Guiana. Vividly illustrated with examples of grand buildings, churches, and gardens, as well as simple houses and cottages, this volume also brings to life the architects who built these structures, not only French military engineers and white civilian builders, but also the free people of colour and slaves who contributed so much to the tropical colonies. Taking readers on a historical tour through the striking landmarks of the French colonial landscape, Architecture and Urbanism in the French Atlantic Empire presents a sweeping panorama of an entire hemisphere of architecture and its legacy.

About this title

Review

"Architecture and Urbanism in the French Atlantic Empire is an original, engaged, and engaging study. Bailey excels at making readers aware of the dichotomy between the propagandistic ambitions of the white colonists and the harsh realities they faced, a reality check that extends to the current condition of over-restored landmarks such as the Place Royale in Quebec City." Isabelle Gournay, University of Maryland

“In this superbly researched and handsome book, Gauvin Alexander Bailey presents a groundbreaking assessment of three and one-half centuries of rampant French colonialism, as well as its physical impact on cultures scattered around the Atlantic Ocean. The book’s beautifully reproduced plans―for buildings, urban centres, formal palaces, churches, gardens and fortifications―reveal inventive and aggressive responses to the indigenous cultures and local environments it sought to subjugate. As we struggle with the resounding impacts of colonial legacies, this is a most timely and welcome work.” Canadian Architect

From the Author

Gauvin Alexander Bailey is professor and Alfred and Isabel Bader Chair in Southern Baroque Art at Queen's University.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0773553142
• ISBN 13: 9780773553149
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 640