We’ve known it for a long time: there’s obviously nothing to expect - except the worst - from either the APHP (the administration responsible for managing the hospitals of Pari, presided over by Anne Hidalgo) or the City of Paris (whose mayor is Anne Hidalgo). We already knew this about the former La Rochefoucauld hospital (ill. 1), and it is indeed the worst that is in store for this extraordinary site, both from a heritage point of view, with a inscribed monument (which should actually be classified as a historic monument) and an environmental point of view, with a park which, although it has already been mutilated over time, is still remarkable.
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- 1. The former La Rochefoucauld hospital in Paris, avenue du Général Leclerc
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
We have already devoted an article to this affair, which has been in gestation for several years. In it, we recalled previous attempts to increase the density of construction, which had been rejected by the Commission Supérieure des Monuments Historiques (the forerunner of the Commission Nationale de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine); the position of the City of Paris, which explained only recently (Jean-Louis Missika) that it was a ‘rare opportunity for land in Paris’; and finally the hypocrisy of the APHP, which declared that it was ‘engaging in a reflection’ on the future of the site when it already knew exactly what it wanted to do: make as much money as possible from it, with no regard for its heritage or the environment.
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- 2. View from the garden of the former Post Office sorting premises
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
The current process, which began with a ‘consultation for transfer’ to developers, perfectly reflects this desire. While the Post Office, which overlooks Avenue du Général Leclerc, is out of the consultation for the time being (although it will still be possible to raise it), the ‘sheds’ (technical sorting premises) behind the Post Office (ill. 2), will not be raised, several parts of the park are threatened by what is made possible by this consultation, all of which is compatible with the future ‘bioclimatic’ PLU (Local Urban Plan), whereas the aim here is to make a green space as dense as possible, what’s more in the immediate vicinity of a historic monument.
Here is the project, as drawn from the documents provided by the APHP itself:
– first of all, although the historic monuments will be preserved - which is the least that can be said - there are no plans to restore them; during a monitoring committee meeting with the associations, the APHP and the 14th arrondissement Town Hall dared to say that they could not ‘obligate the developers to restore’ the monuments. It’s hard to make people understand otherwise that the developers are only there to make money for the APHP, which couldn’t care less about what happens to the site, just as the Paris City Council doesn’t seem to,
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- Plan from an APHP document showing the areas to be built on
- See the image in its page
– new buildings will be constructed (ill. 3), for a total of 4,500 to 5,400 new m2. Bearing in mind that the site currently has around 8,500 m2 built, this represents a densification of at least 50%. Clearly, it’s good for the climate and good for Paris to be making one of the densest cities in the world ever denser.
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- 4. Garden of La Rochefoucauld with, in the background, the two low-rise buildings that will be demolished (which is not at all scandalous, on the contrary) and immediately replaced by a taller, longer building
(in illustration 3, this is the building in red at the top of the image)
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
– one of these buildings will be constructed to the north of the garden (ill. 4); currently, there are two small buildings there, a laundry (circa 1947) and a gardener’s workshop (circa 1976). Of no architectural interest, they have the merit of being low (only one storey) and unobtrusive. They could easily be demolished, which is what is planned. But the building that is to replace them, as planned by the APHP in agreement with the City of Paris, will be longer and higher (three storeys). It is therefore a first construction on the garden that is envisaged here, when this plot should obviously be returned to it, and planted.
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- 5. The car park, which should be returned to the garden, and which will be built over 50% of its surface area (see ill. 3)
On the right, the main building, listed as a historic monument (what’s the point of the protected perimeter if you’re going to build here?).
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
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- 6. Right view of the car park to be built (left, the main building)
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
– another large area that was once part of the garden, immediately adjoining the main building, partly used as a car park (ill. 5 and 6), should obviously also have been returned in its entirety as a garden. Instead, the opposite is going to happen: half of this plot is to be built on - a further densification of the site - with a building that will be three storeys high, almost as high as the main building, which is a listed historic monument.
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- 7. This building, which is already very ugly and too high, will nevertheless be partially raised even further
(here we are looking east, with the main building behind us)
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
– finally, at the end of the 1960s, a particularly unsightly building, as was the secret of the era that saw the birth of the Montparnasse tower, was added to the La Rochefoucauld site (ill. 7), including a nursing school. The latter, already eight storeys high, is not yet high enough for the City of Paris and the APHP, since they are planning to raise it further (it is not known by how many storeys). This ‘bioclimatic’ PLU is fascinating, as it does everything but combat concrete development, which, as we all know, is excellent for global warming.
As a result, everything that can be built (according to the PLU) will be, with the exception of the former Post Office sorting workshops. Facts no longer matter, however, and in the document entitled ‘Consultation for the sale of the former La Rochefoucauld hospital’ we can read the following paragraph entitled ‘The reinforcement of greenery and the place of nature’: ‘The site is currently characterised by remarkable green spaces. As mentioned above, the project will have to open up these areas to the public. In addition, private green spaces may also be proposed. A coherent landscape design is therefore expected, taking into account the qualities of the site and the overall project. It should enable the public and private green spaces to function harmoniously, thereby encouraging new uses and a new sense of ownership of these remarkable green spaces’.
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- 8. Aerial view of the site. Wonder where they’ll find the private gardens?
Photo: IGN - See the image in its page
So we understand that concreting the area even more (+50%) means ‘reinforcing plants and the place of nature’! And we also discover that the promised opening up to the public (which is a good thing) will inevitably be compromised by ‘private green spaces’. Where will these be created, knowing - as is easy to see from the aerial view (ill. 8) and the plan - that the garden is in one piece, this is not specified. This is no doubt a detail...
We should add that the buildings have no guarantee of being restored, when one of them, the linen room, has been walled up for a very long time (ill. 9) and is in a precarious state, and that the main building is not protected on the inside, even though it still has its original layout and probably some decoration behind the hospital fittings. It is clear, therefore, that the whole project is detestable, that the site is going to be permanently denatured, not to mention that in the future there is cause for concern about what will be done for the Post Office, as this building is listed in the Local Urban Development Plan as a reserve for social housing of up to 1,500 m2, i.e. 5 to 7 storeys.
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- 9. The linen room, in a sorry state of repair, which there are no plans to restore as part of the project
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
The ball is now in the court of the Ministry of Culture, which is not necessarily reassuring when you see how it has abandoned Paris to its fate for many years. Will it once again allow the concreting over of a site that could instead be developed for the benefit of all Parisians, and for the genuine protection of the environment and our heritage? An ideal location for the Musée de l’APHP, which was shamefully closed by this institution a few years ago.
Let us conclude by mentioning the existence of the association Sauvons La Rochefoucauld, supported by all the other associations for the protection of heritage and the environment (Sites & Monuments, SOS Paris, VMF, Patrimoine Environnement, Paris Historique, Monts 14, Histoire & Patrimoine de Paris, Groupe nationale de surveillance des arbres, France Nature Environnement, A.R.B.R.E.S and others). Once again, citizens against the vandalism of the administration and politicians.