May 3, 2023
A Paris for Our Time
Esther Da Costa Meyer
Professor of Art and Architecture, Emerita, Princeton University
Nancy Beck (introducer) /Esther da Costa Meyer (speaker)
Minutes of the 30th Meeting of the 81st Year
President John Cotton called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM and Julia Bowers Coale led the membership in the invocation. There were 110 members in attendance.
Ann Seltzer read the minutes of the prior meeting.
President Cotton introduced the meeting guests:
Harold Kustin, guest of Seth Malin;
Susan Tarr, guest of Nancy Beck;
Joan Widner, guest of Ralph Widner;
Maureen McLaughlin, guest of Lynne Durkee;
Stanley Corngold, guest of George Bustin; and
Ann Halliday, guest of Marcia Snowden.
President Cotton asked for a vote on the proposal to require members to pay dues for five years before becoming emeritus. The membership approved the proposal.
President Cotton asked for a vote on the proposal to name the following members as officers of the Old Guard for next year, and membership approved the proposal:
President: John Cotton
Vice President: George Bustin
Secretary: Richard Ober
Assistant Secretary: Julie Elward-Berry
Treasurer: David Long
Assistant Treasurer: Bill Katen-Narvell
Recording Secretary: Julie Denny
Chair of Audio-Visual Committee: Cynthia Woolston Maltenfont
Chair of the Communications Committee: Dermot Gately
Historian: Carol Wehrheim
Chair of Hospitality Committee: In Abeyance
Chair of the Membership Committee: Teri Lemischka
Chair of the Nominating Committee: B. F. (BFG) Graham
Chair of the Program Committee: Nancy Becker
Chair of the University Relations Committee: In Abeyance
Chair of the Venues Committee: Lynne Durkee
Immediate Past President: Stephen Schreiber
Greg Dobbs, chair of the Membership Committee, spoke on behalf of the Membership Committee's sever nominations for membership: Dulcie Bull, Stanley Corngold, Paul Fitzgerald, Archer Saint Clare Harvey, George Harvey
Robert Holly, and Stephen Silverman.
Voting for new members will take place at the next meeting on May 10, 2023. After that, the next opportunity for new members will be in October 2023; there will likely be only two membership slots available (and maybe two more if two members become emeritus), so apply early.
President Cotton announced that the speaker for May 10, 2023, will be Mitch Henderson, Head Coach of Princeton University Men's Varsity Basketball, who will speak about the legacy of his predecessor, Pete Carril.
Nancy Beck introduced today's speaker, Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor of Art and Architecture Emerita at Princeton University, Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Architecture, and author of a new book entitled Dividing Paris: Urban Renewal and Social Inequality, 1852–1870.
Professor da Costa Meyer noted that France was a vast, major colonial power around 1852 to 1878 and that Paris became the focus of major urban renewal projects under the direction of Louis Napoleon III and then Georges-Eugène Haussmann. The urban renewal proceeded with little to no social conscience concerning the effect on the poor or workers, many of whom came from the colonies and then suffered the brunt of the dislocation caused by urban renewal.
Louis Napoleon III's interest was in keeping power after he was elected President of the Second Republic in 1848. His urban renewal focused on troop access via railway stations and garrisons (Defensive Urbanism).
The investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists were interested in opening the center of Paris for commerce; Napoleon III named Georges-Eugène Haussmann as the de facto mayor of Paris to implement that goal. Haussmann was indifferent to the social cost of this urban renewal on the poor and working class, who were pushed to new outer fringes of the city.
Most of central Paris was demolished and replaced with wide boulevards, streets named after colonizing generals; looted art from the colonies was placed into museums; and botanical gardens were built along with space for lavish political pageants to be held for foreign ambassadors and wealthy persons.
Gas candelabra lighting, sidewalks, kiosks, benches, and bus and horse transportation systems were installed. The Seine River, formerly the city's water supply, sewer system, and marketplace, was cleaned up. Water was brought in via aqueducts and cisterns. The stone quarries under ten percent of the city were turned into graveyards. Large sewer systems were installed. Green areas were created. This urban renewal promoted circulation and commerce that primarily benefitted investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists—and not the poor and workers of East Paris whose territory was moved farther away from the center of Paris, and who did not get the lavish and beautiful urban renewal projects in their neighborhoods.
The cost of this urban renewal was paid primarily from the increased value of real estate along with the usual taxes paid by the poor and working class.
Professor da Costa Meyer concluded that a similar pattern can be seen today in most of the major cities on our planet. The wealthy live in gentrified neighborhoods, and the poor or workers, who are often minorities and the descendants of arrivals from the colonies, live in poor, fringe neighborhoods.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner
Ann Seltzer read the minutes of the prior meeting.
President Cotton introduced the meeting guests:
Harold Kustin, guest of Seth Malin;
Susan Tarr, guest of Nancy Beck;
Joan Widner, guest of Ralph Widner;
Maureen McLaughlin, guest of Lynne Durkee;
Stanley Corngold, guest of George Bustin; and
Ann Halliday, guest of Marcia Snowden.
President Cotton asked for a vote on the proposal to require members to pay dues for five years before becoming emeritus. The membership approved the proposal.
President Cotton asked for a vote on the proposal to name the following members as officers of the Old Guard for next year, and membership approved the proposal:
President: John Cotton
Vice President: George Bustin
Secretary: Richard Ober
Assistant Secretary: Julie Elward-Berry
Treasurer: David Long
Assistant Treasurer: Bill Katen-Narvell
Recording Secretary: Julie Denny
Chair of Audio-Visual Committee: Cynthia Woolston Maltenfont
Chair of the Communications Committee: Dermot Gately
Historian: Carol Wehrheim
Chair of Hospitality Committee: In Abeyance
Chair of the Membership Committee: Teri Lemischka
Chair of the Nominating Committee: B. F. (BFG) Graham
Chair of the Program Committee: Nancy Becker
Chair of the University Relations Committee: In Abeyance
Chair of the Venues Committee: Lynne Durkee
Immediate Past President: Stephen Schreiber
Greg Dobbs, chair of the Membership Committee, spoke on behalf of the Membership Committee's sever nominations for membership: Dulcie Bull, Stanley Corngold, Paul Fitzgerald, Archer Saint Clare Harvey, George Harvey
Robert Holly, and Stephen Silverman.
Voting for new members will take place at the next meeting on May 10, 2023. After that, the next opportunity for new members will be in October 2023; there will likely be only two membership slots available (and maybe two more if two members become emeritus), so apply early.
President Cotton announced that the speaker for May 10, 2023, will be Mitch Henderson, Head Coach of Princeton University Men's Varsity Basketball, who will speak about the legacy of his predecessor, Pete Carril.
Nancy Beck introduced today's speaker, Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor of Art and Architecture Emerita at Princeton University, Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Architecture, and author of a new book entitled Dividing Paris: Urban Renewal and Social Inequality, 1852–1870.
Professor da Costa Meyer noted that France was a vast, major colonial power around 1852 to 1878 and that Paris became the focus of major urban renewal projects under the direction of Louis Napoleon III and then Georges-Eugène Haussmann. The urban renewal proceeded with little to no social conscience concerning the effect on the poor or workers, many of whom came from the colonies and then suffered the brunt of the dislocation caused by urban renewal.
Louis Napoleon III's interest was in keeping power after he was elected President of the Second Republic in 1848. His urban renewal focused on troop access via railway stations and garrisons (Defensive Urbanism).
The investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists were interested in opening the center of Paris for commerce; Napoleon III named Georges-Eugène Haussmann as the de facto mayor of Paris to implement that goal. Haussmann was indifferent to the social cost of this urban renewal on the poor and working class, who were pushed to new outer fringes of the city.
Most of central Paris was demolished and replaced with wide boulevards, streets named after colonizing generals; looted art from the colonies was placed into museums; and botanical gardens were built along with space for lavish political pageants to be held for foreign ambassadors and wealthy persons.
Gas candelabra lighting, sidewalks, kiosks, benches, and bus and horse transportation systems were installed. The Seine River, formerly the city's water supply, sewer system, and marketplace, was cleaned up. Water was brought in via aqueducts and cisterns. The stone quarries under ten percent of the city were turned into graveyards. Large sewer systems were installed. Green areas were created. This urban renewal promoted circulation and commerce that primarily benefitted investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists—and not the poor and workers of East Paris whose territory was moved farther away from the center of Paris, and who did not get the lavish and beautiful urban renewal projects in their neighborhoods.
The cost of this urban renewal was paid primarily from the increased value of real estate along with the usual taxes paid by the poor and working class.
Professor da Costa Meyer concluded that a similar pattern can be seen today in most of the major cities on our planet. The wealthy live in gentrified neighborhoods, and the poor or workers, who are often minorities and the descendants of arrivals from the colonies, live in poor, fringe neighborhoods.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner