THROUGH THE PARIS SITES

The creation of the Sports Park will constitute the first step in the development of the fortifications

The day after the Grand Prix, Mr. Maherbe mobilized street workers who, armed with picks and picks, took possession of the Parisian roads and extended their occupation almost to the boulevards. The teams of Mr. Mariage, responsible for the repair of the tram tracks: those of Mr. Lorain: who improve the distribution of gas or the C.P.D.E, who intend for there to be electricity on all floors, dig trenches on their side and the activity of each side quickly gave the capital the appearance of a vast construction site in progress where gaping chasms open up in places, which we will see one day transform into Metro stations. Here are the fortifications! When will we see them disappear? For the moment, out of ninety-four bastions, twenty have been completely demolished. The demolition of ten others is very advanced. To activate the work, steam shovels are used; but the work is considerable and the destruction of the wall surrounding Paris, which comprised 6 million cubic meters of earth and 800,000 cubic meters of masonry, will still require quite a few blows of the pickax.

Already the stock of rubble from the demolition is considerable. The cube of stones recovered so far amounts to more than 150,000 cubic meters, of which 6,149 cubic meters were sold to individuals, 7,198 given to municipal or departmental services, 3,146 used by the architectural service for groups of low-cost housing and 655 by the Public Office for low-cost housing.

There remains, as we can see, still a large stock of stones, which it would be advantageous to see used, which would undoubtedly help to alleviate the housing crisis. Sales prices vary from 21 francs to 200 francs per cubic meter. , depending on whether it is rubble, millstone or dressed stone. It is true that the construction of housing with average rents, decided by the municipal council, will facilitate the use of all these rubble stones, arranged in endless
squares along the construction sites.

Already the prefect of the Seine is concerned with the development of the fortification zone, freed from its wall.

The first stage of this beautification work will be carried out in the Boulogne zone. The entire vast space between the Porte du Point-du-Jour, the Rue de la Petite-Arche and the Porte de Billancourt will be transformed into a huge sports park, equipped with all the facilities to make it a model of its kind. ,

The portion of the area which will be developed is located on the edge of bastions 67 and 67 bis, which will be preserved as historical monuments. Land will be provided there from where the view will embrace the entire vast indentation of the river and the decorative ensemble created. in its neighborhood. It is because of the role it played in 1870 that the conservation of bastion 67 was decided. It constituted in the defense of Paris as an advanced post, located exactly opposite the heights of Meudon and Saint-Cloud , and it was its guns which on January 5, 1871, despite the generally insufficient range of the guns, succeeded in silencing the German battery which was bombarding the sector.

This artillery action seemed all the more interesting to commemorate as it constitutes the unique case of direct military use of the 1840 enclosure, which the pickaxe of the demolitionists is eating into more and more day by day. The two bastions will therefore remain as the only vestiges of the stone corset which for so long stifled Paris.

The Basque pelota fronton

On the Seine, plans have been made to install a Basque pelota pediment near the Porte de Billancourt and along the quay. This concession was awarded to the French Basque Pelota Federation. The project involves the construction of stands topped with a pergola and the construction of a Basque-style pavilion which will become the clubhouse for the members of the federation.

The concession was granted for sixty years, subject to the payment of an annual rent of one thousand francs. The City will also deduct 10% from net revenue. It is this regime that the prefect of the Seine proposes to extend to all the concessions which will be granted on the grounds of the fortifications, to the sports societies.

Immediately afterwards, a space for young children will be created, then on a strip of land extending to the ditches and measuring approximately two hundred and forty meters in length, a three-hundred meter track will be established, around which apparatus will be placed, outdoor gymnastics equipment and three tennis courts.

A. Véran