The Place Royale and Urban Design in the Ancien Regime

Places Royales (such as the Place Vendôme) were a distinct type of city square planned in honour of French monarchs from the 1680s through the 1770s. This 1999 study examines the importance of these extremely influential landmarks, with special attention to the political mechanisms and design processes that conceived them.

Originally published in 1999, this study was the first to examine a unique urban phenomenon that is closely associated with French monarchy in the age of absolutism. A distinct type of city square, the Places Royales were planned in honour of Louis XIV and his heir, Louis XV. Featuring a free-standing statue of the monarch at its centre, the Place Royale was framed by buildings of uniform, monumental design such as are found in some of the most outstanding examples to have survived, including the Place Vendôme and the Place Stanislas. In this study, Richard Cleary examines the Places Royales in terms of the political mechanisms and design processes through which they were conceived, their intended meanings for contemporaries, and their relationship to the urban fabrics of which they are a part. Also included is a catalogue describing projects for Places Royales in twenty-five cities in France and Canada.