Hector Guimard

Hector Guimard was an important French architect, born in Lyon in 1867. He died in new York in 1942, at the age of 75. He is widely considered to be one of the major representatives of the Art Nouveau movement. He was greatly influenced by Viollet-le-Duc (French) and Horta (Belgian) two other architects who pioneered the Art Nouveau movement. 

In Paris he is widely know for his Metro Station entrances made using wrought iron, bronze and glass. Eighty-six such metro station entrances still exist today in various forms, but the only original and complete one which still remains is the one at Porte Dauphine built in 1902. I knew there was something special about it when I saw it last week.

There is another Hector Gumard Metro station entrance at Place des Abbesses. Interestingly this Metro entrance was previously located at the Hotel de Ville, but was dismantled in 1972 and rebuilt at Abbesses.

At Place Blanche Metro station there are also some Hector Guimard elements. Here is a railing detail.

Here is a pigeon perch.

And look, here's a triffid. Or if you prefer, an elegant woman holding tightly onto her hat.

Paris lampposts are not banal

Lately I've become rather preoccupied with Parisian lampposts. Let's face it, Paris gives good lamppost. Actually, Paris gives fantastic lampposts. There are hundreds of different styles of lamppost in Paris, from the very plain and simple, to the outrageously elaborate and extravagant. 

This is a very classic common lamppost found all over the city. Here, rather unusually, it looks like an urban arrow.

Here is another more old fashioned classic that can be found all over town. This one had just had the glass replaced in it, so was oddly shiny and clean. 

Parisian lampposts often look fantastic in silhouette.

Sometimes they have coloured glass as can be seen on this rather Triffid like Hector Guimard metro lamppost.

Sometimes they suspend famous monuments.

The details are often incredibly intricate, as can be seen here on one of the Place de La Concorde lampposts.

Sometimes they provide a dramatic foreground for wild horses.

They create lovely shadows. On occasions their shadows even look like body builders.

I challenge anybody to find lampposts more extravagant than these ones on Pont Alexandre III.

And finally, I reckon my red headed aging hippy continues to get more and more handsome in these autumnal days.

More lamppost images can be found on my flickr account.