Cité Napoléon

The Cité Napoléon stands at fifty eight rue de Rochechouart as a monumental experiment in social engineering from the nineteenth century. Built between eighteen forty nine and eighteen fifty one, it was the first attempt in Paris to provide standardized housing for the working class. The architect, Marie Gabriel Veugny, designed the complex to prioritize hygiene and light, featuring wide staircases and a glass roof covering the internal courtyards. It represented a vision of a modern city where the living conditions of the poor were managed directly to prevent social disorder and disease. Continue