The Place Vendme

In The Place Vendme, Rochelle Ziskin explores the sociological foundations of domestic design in eighteenth-century France, the acknowledged leader of domestic architecture in this period. Focusing on the Place Vendme, which was developed by the financiers of Paris, she examines the representational strategies and dilemmas of French lites, which were crucial to the formation of a French mode of design. These strategies are illuminated through a study of the socially mobile households of financiers, with their evolving but ambiguous social status. Through analyses of social distinctions and ambitions, Ziskin explores the manner in which the dwellings of the Place Vendme embodied beliefs about the nature of society, the appropriate relations among social groups, as well as those between men and women, parents and children, and masters and domestics. This study also includes a wide range of illustrated material that is published here for the first time.