Paul Sédille

Paul Sédille (1836-1900) was a French architect and theorist; and designed the 1880 reconstruction of the iconic Magasins du Printemps department store in Paris.

Though Sédille is best known for his Printemps design, he was also associated with the Creusot family foundry and was very active in professional associations and architectural education in the 1880s. He wrote a number of compelling pieces of architectural criticism, especially his review of contemporary Viennese and British architecture, and reflected what were by and large Teutonic theoretical concerns that have come to be understood as architectural realism, based on the works of Gottfried Semper.

Directly related to his interest in Semper, Sédille was an advocate of highly-coloured polychrome architecture. His participation in the Universal Expositions of 1878 and 1889 in Paris were demonstration pieces of his approach of integrating colorful terra cotta tilework and structural into the vocabulary of classical, beaux-arts architectural forms.

Sédille made his mark as a private architect executing residential commissions during an age that celebrated heroic, civic works such as the Paris Opéra (1860-1875) by Charles Garnier or the "Palais de Justice" (Paris, 1857-68) by Joseph Louis Duc and Honoré Daumet.

Bibliography

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Rappport présenté par la commission chargée d'examiner une proposition de M. Paul Sédillle relative aux récompenses à décerner par la société centrale des architectes," "Bulletin mensuel de la société centrale des architectes" (1873): 72-76.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Victor Baltard," "Gazette des beux-arts", 2ème pér., 9 (1874): 485-496.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Rapport sur un brochure de M. Ruprich-Robert," "Bulletin mensuel de la société centrale des architectes" 4ème sér., 2 (1875): 43f.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Joseph Louis Duc, Architecte," "Encyclopédie d'architecture", 2ème sér., 8 (1879): 65-74.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "L'architecture contemporaine et les industries d'art qui s'y rattachent," "Bulletin mensuel de la société centrale des architectes" 6ème sér., 2 (1885): 28-33.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Du rôle de la construction dans l'architecture," "Encyclopédie d'architecture", 3ème sér., 4 (1885): 73f.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "L'architecture moderne à Vienne," "Gazette des beux-arts", 2ème pér., 30 (1884): 122-44, 460-67, 481-91. Reprinted in: "Bulletin mensuel de la société centrale des architectes" 6ème sér., 2 (1885): 196-222.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Récompenses à l'architecture privée," "Bulletin mensuel de la société centrale des architectes" 6ème sér., 2 (1885): 411-18. Reprinted as: "Du rôle de la construction dans l'architecture," "Encyclopédie d'architecture" 3ème sér., 4 (1885): 73f.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "L'architecture moderne en Angleterre," "Gazette des beux-arts", 2ème pér., 33 (1886): 89-102, 194-208; 34 (1886): 89-106, 441-465; 35 (1887): 273-290.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Étude sur la renaissance de la polychromie monumentale en France," "Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects", n. s., 3 (1887): 5-16; with English translation, pp. 17-25. Also printed in: "L'Architecture" 1 (1888): 13-16, 37-40, 97-99.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Charles Garnier," "Gazette des beux-arts", 3ème pér., 20 (1898): 341-346.

*fr icon Sédille, Paul. "Basilique de Jeanne d'Arc, Domrémy. Construction de la flèche," "L'architecture" 12 (1899): 372-374.

References

English

*en icon Berry, J. Duncan. "From Historicism to Architectural Realism: On Some of Wagner's Sources," in: Harry F. Mallgrave (ed.), "Otto Wagner: Reflections on the Raiment of Modernity" (Santa Monica, 1993): 242-278. ISBN 089236257X

*en icon Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. "Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries", 4th ed. (Harmondsworth, 1977), 384. ISBN 0300053207

*en icon Mallgrave, Harry F. "Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673-1968" (Cambridge, 2005): 207. ISBN 0521793068

*en icon Middleton, Robin D. "Paul Sédille," in: Adolf K. Placzek (éd.), "The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects" (New York, 1982), 4: 20-21.

French

*fr icon Bus, Charles du. "Deux aspects de l'art urbain," "Gazette des beux-arts", 4ème pér., 12 (1914): 368-90.

*fr icon "Encyclopdédie d'architecture", 3ème sér., 4 (1885): 1-35 + pls. 860f., 896f., 899, 919, 927f., 931, 941, 965, 981f., 992, 997f., 1004-6.

*fr icon Hautecoeur, Louis. "Histoire de l'architecture classique en France. La fin de l’architecture classique 1848-1900" (Paris, 1957), vol. 7: 377, 413, 447.

*fr icon Lafenestre, Georges. "Les magasins du Printemps réédifiés par M. Paul Sédille," "Gazette des beuax-arts", 2ème pér., 27 (1883): 239-53.

*fr icon Lucas, Charles. Nécrologie: M. Paul Sédille," "La construction moderne" 15 (1900): 179-80.

*fr icon Lucien, Étienne. "La vie et les ouvrages de Paul Sédille," "L'Architecture" 13 (1900): 305-8, 313-15.

*fr icon Marrey, Bernard. "Les grands magasins des origines à 1939" (Paris, 1979): 97-109. ISBN 2708400452

*fr icon Sully-Proudhomme, René François Armand. "Paul Sédille," "Revue de l'art ancient et moderne" 9 (1901): 77-84, 149-60.

*fr icon Sully-Proudhomme, René François Armand. "Paul Sédille" (Paris, 1902).

German

*de icon Contag. "Der Neubau des 'Magasin au Printemps (sic)' in Paris," "Deutsche Bauzeitung" 20 (1886): 33f.

*de icon Hofmann, Albert. "Die französischen Architektur der Dritten Republik," "Deutsche Bauzeitung" 21 (1887), 38, 127.

*de icon "Thieme-Becker" 30: 422.