Public and Commercial Buildings in the Structure of the Historical Center of Moscow and Paris. Principles of Continuity and Development

Public and commercial buildings are the basis and compositional core of the center of each city. In Paris and Moscow, many of them were built in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were rebuilt, changed, transformed, expanded their borders and, at the same time, retained their importance in the structure of the modern city. The construction of new commercial buildings was an important stage in the transformation of the center of Paris. Сentral indoor market (Les Halles), North Station (Paris-Nord), the arcades and department stores were the best solution for the settlement and reconstruction of the city center, for the creation of comfortable public and commercial spaces, and for additional routes in the city structure. Some urban planning principles of Paris and the experience of building new architectural objects were borrowed during the reconstruction of the center of Moscow in the XIX – early XX centuries. In Moscow, nine shopping arcades, the Muir and Merrilees Store were built. The trading rows in Moscow were completely rebuilt: Warm, Nikolsky, Sredny, Tagansky. Gostiny Dvor on Ilinka Street in Moscow has retained its importance as a wholesale trade center. At present, one can talk about a special system of public and commercial buildings, which is a city-forming element of the structure and unique appearance of the historical center of both Moscow and Paris.

I.A. PROKOFIEVA, Candidate of Architecture (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Moscow Institute of Architecture (State Academy) (11, Rozhdestvenka Street, Moscow, 107031, Russian Federation)

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