Palais Garnier Opera House, Paris

It is a 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. Charles
Garnier designed the Opra de Paris, completed in 1875 at the height of the Second Empire.
Napolean III envisioned a temple to the arts as the pinnacle of a modern movement. Baron
Haussmann tore down significant portions of Paris to introduce modern avenues, uniform 6-
story mixed living units, and grand civic centers. The opera was meant to be a world center for
lofty artistic pursuits, which only the upper class could access, and as such was an architectural
wonder of the age.

Palais Garnier is of the Neo-Baroque style, a term used to describe architecture that
encompasses the key characteristics of Baroque style although built after the proper time
period. The monumental style can also be classified as Beaux-Arts, with its use of axial
symmetry in plan, and its exterior ornamentation. One of the major urban implications of
the Paris Opera is it's location at the northern end of Avenue de l'Opera in France. It's role as
the terminal axial point suggests that as a public space, it should hold much importance in the
community.
Background- In Jan 1858, bomb blast in the old opera Rue De Peletier (1821) forced Napolean
III to build a new opera that he could attend safely.
Paris needed a theatre worthy of its name. The old was inconvenient.
Declared for public benefit in 1860, received passionate response. a design competetion had to
be held for architect selection, first of its kind. 170 entries.

Architect- 34 year old Garnier was relatively unknown. He didn't even have an office and built
one on site quickly. Team was composed of architects from Escole De Beaux Arts. Huge,
politically sensitive project.
Architect had to work closely with the emperor and his ministers. Pressure to complete it quickly
as they needed something to inaugurate in the 1867 World Fair. So , the Facade was completed
first of all, but reflected a lot on the architect's plans.
Ideas- Monumental building whose facade closes the perspective of a large, ceremonial avenue
that was driven through the city to reach the Louvre and the Tuileries Imperial Palace.
Avenue created simply to enhance the importance of the monument, cutting through the city.
However, the Avenue actually hinders the actual view of the Opera, as much of its width and
none of its length can be appreciated from here. The surroundings smother the Opera.
The diamond shaped roads around it are completely unsuitable for a building of such kind.
Garnier wanted change but Prefects said that the roads were more important. To make use of
the site shape, he had the idea of adding 2 side pavilions. One to be the entrance for season
ticket holders, the second was the entry for the Emperor with an imposing ramp, worthy of an
entrance to a Chateau which breaks the symmetry of the building. He was widely criticized for
abandoning the important concept of parallelism for courtship and flattery.

Appeal To Tradition This was a new age for art and Modernism was in full swing.
Impressionism, Symbolism, and Realism communicated in a new way. Nobody appreciated the
sentimental old style. But Garnier rejected Modernism and modeled the opera house with the
axis floorplan of a church and the lavish pomp of a palace.

Garniers travels and intense study of Greek and Roman classics is evident in his Thtre
National de lOpra. The beaux-arts school taught him to mix historic symbols of the higher arts
with modern building technology, with divergent results. Symmetry and concentric radial forms
within rectangular frames are classic principles which Garnier expertly used. The geometric
exercise of a circular theater within a rectangular form is especially tricky as the straight city
streets press upon the building on all sides and the front plaza impress the buildings geometry
into its surroundings.
Architects approach- Its great disproportionate volumes and the slightly flattened dome,
sitting on the huge gable creates strong plastic effects that upset the classical taste. But he
considered this to be a rational approach. The outer appearance of the edifice is meant to
introduce the space inside. The building can be understood by simply looking at the line of the
roofs. The structure is designed as a succession of clearly separated segments, each housing a
particular part of the plan. First segment is for access in the public areas. second is the
auditorium. third is the stage. fourth is for the technical, administrative services. the auditorium
and the stager dominate in volume. he wanted the auditorium to harmonise the stage, without
overshadowing it.

Construction problems- Garnier wanted all neighboring buildings to be pulled down but as
they were pulled down, new ones were built in their place. The Houseman, under the Prefect,
allowed the neighboring buildings to be built 5 m. higher here than the regulation limit, to the
dismay of Garnier. Garnier changed his plans in a hurry and raised the height of the attic
overhanging the colonnade to combat the giant neighboring buildings. This problem was only for
the facade. The highest point is 56m. above the ground.

Front Faade- The front facade is articulated with a piano-nobile loggia of columns that
references the Louvre. Garnier references other works in this facade, including Palladios
Vicenz town hall, Versailles, and the Aile Lescot.
Six types of stone and a variety of wood and precious metals recall the color and grand scene of
Classical temples. Garnier intended this to inspire a variety of outfits in a quivering crowd. An
excited audience which observes and knows itself observed. A dominant red color, particularly
in soft velvet interior materials, brought out the ladies blushing low neckline, Garnier said, a
tapestry of beauty.
Structure and functionality- behind the moldings and gildings, there is the metallic structure
that shapes that shapes the flooring and framework of the auditorium and reduces the risk of
fire, something dreaded in all previous grand theatres. He mastered iron work techniques but
remained insensitive to the aesthetics of ironwork and refused to let it show.
For acoustics, he didn't adhere to the wide range of advice that he received. He simply left it to
chance.
Although the auditorium was quite standard for operas of the time, the stage was huge, as was
the case in operas in 19th century, is one of the largest in Europe. The stage has unnaturally
large volumes. The foundation is deeper than all other parts. Garnier arranged an under stage
space such that a 15m. set could be lowered, without breaking it up.
The Lake- while laying foundation, Garnier came up across a subterranean water table. to
prevent infiltration he had to construct a concrete reservoir under the foundation that he filled
with water to balance the counter pressure. This reservoir, that is a store for emergency use by
firemen, is often referred to in popular culture as the lake beneath the Opera.

Experience and use of materials- With the roof being 20m. above the stage, the whole area
looks like a large factory, with its pitched roof and metallic frame that dominates both the
building and the city.
The admin block is characterized by a strictness that is completely classic, in contrast to the
exuberant front facade.
The colonnade that dominates the facade is a direct reference to the Louvre. However, the
larger columns are backed up by colonnade of smaller columns, topped by a stone screen that
the architect says act like a curtain, reducing the monumentality of the building.
Garnier was criticized for it but he believed that rational polychrome clarified the composition
and even affirms the purpose of the buildings which can be seen in how the smaller columns
are of a marble finish and gilded golden capital, that emphasizes the fact that they are just for
aesthetic purposes and are not actual structural members.
Reopening of Opera- In 1870, imperial rule came to an end. Paris was besieged by the
Prussians and Napoleon III fled. The Opera was converted into a food store by the army with
food stocks. But in 1873, the old Opera in Reu De Peletier burned down and Garnier was told to
finish the new opera in a hurry.
In 1875, the Opera was inaugurated, for a second time.
While the auditorium and stage were classic, the first segment, the place for people to wander
and interact during interval was a complete innovation. Garnier gave this part of the building
importance that it had never been given before, giving it a quarter of the total length of the
building.

Dramatic Aesthetic Garnier put early emphasis on easy circulation. A hierarchy of circulation
paths range from grand front entrance steps, tall central lobby, and low dim hallways. Each path
is celebrated as a new event and opportunity for social interaction.
Dramatic statues of mythological gods and paintings of heavenly scenes attend these events
and inspire fantasy in human to human interaction. It was the rich Baroque decorations and
lavish sculpture work of historical artists and a Neoclassic style, stretched to the limits, the
cohesion of modern rationalism and technology, historical values and social oppression that
kept the crowds coming.
Beaux-Arts architecture depended on sculptural decoration along conservative modern lines,
employing French and Italian Baroque and Rococo formulas combined with an impressionistic
finish and realism.
Interiors- Rich with velvet, gold leaf, and cherubim and nymphs, the interior is characteristic of
Baroque sumptuousness.
The building features a large ceremonial staircase of white marble with a balustrade of red and
green marble, which divides into two divergent flights of stairs that lead to the Grand Foyer. Its
design was inspired by Victor Louis's grand staircase for the Thtre de Bordeaux.

The Grand Foyer 18 meters high, 154 meters long and 13 meters wide was designed to act as a
drawing room for Paris society. It was restored in 2004. Its ceiling was painted by Paul-Jacques-
Aim Baudry and represents various moments in the history of music. The foyer opens into an
outside loggia at each end of which are the Salon de la Lune and Salon du Soleil.