The New Theatres In Paris.*

in face ; the Theatre Lyrique is at the right , and the Circus or Theatre Historique is to the left . The designs of the two theatres resemble one another in many of their main features . An open loggia in one building , in the story above the street , replaces the glazed windows of the other ; the attic story is somewhat differently treated ; and segmental heads to the

entrance-doorways are substituted for semi-circular ; but the two buildings have a like form of roof-covering , a vast segment carried by an attic , which last , in one or both of the buildings , is set-in from the main external walls . The effect of the whole from any distant point of view is , in simple truth , a vile blot on the picture ; and we are assured it is impossible that the architect , Mr . Davioud , —who moreover shows by beautiful treatment of details in these as well as others of his works , his

competency as artist-architect , —could have perpetrated uncontrolled such a combined eye-sore . One building , indeed , there is , which is equally bad in the effect of its roof , and equally pernicious in a prospect of its quarter of Paris ; we mean the Palais de l'lndustrie ; which nevertheless , equally with the theatres , has remarkable beauty in many of its details . The details in the

theatres , minute iu their treatment like those generally of the modern French school , enter little into the effect from the opposite side of tbe river . Also , as the Cirque is a somewhat larger building than the Theatre Lyrique , the spectator seems to feel that symmetry was intended , and that even that attempt has failed . When the first impression is that of a failurewhat can be the effect of any

, work of art P Some considerable time after the roofing had been seemingly finished , the effect was again deteriorated by the addition of a small louvre or ventilator on the summit of each building . This feature , it was impossible to help thinking , was so placed , and left undecorated , in pure listlessness as to the power of making such an effect as was that of the roof , any better or any worse .

In fact , something like the mistake in the Westminster Palace , was made : the architect was set to work ; and the buildings were commenced , before a commission to which we shall hereafter refer , had finished its labours ; thus , certain conduits which had been provided for one method of ventilation , were eventually demolished . The critics in the French press have been by no means

satisfied with the flanks of the theatres , those fronting the Seine , but attribute the result to the shops which it was considered by the city could not be spared from rental . In such view of the matter , we consider these authorities entirely mistaken . ' Even shops might have been treated without great detriment to architectural effect ; and-the tendency to destruction

of such effect by sign-boards , like what is manifested on the Boulevard cle Sebastopol , might have been repressed by one of those stipulations so easily enforced under the French municipal system . The Royal Exchange , London , at least before the fronts of many of the shops were allowed to be brought forward , showed what might be clone ; but marked features of recession and projection

on plan , as of grouping and proportion of stories in elevation , are what are wanting to the otherwise admirable character of French architecture , as we have in these pages before observed . The work of reconstruction of this part of Paris , comprised the rebuilding of the bridge in a slightly modified line of crossing , the removal of the Fontaine du Chatelet

( which was effected bodily ) , and tbe arrangement of the areaabout it , planted with trees , and the erection of numerous buildings , to the north , and eastward to the Hotel de Yille , nearly all the striking architectural character , and some of them profusely enriched with sculpture . The north side of the Theatre Lyrique is seen from the Rue di Rivoli across the Avenue Yictoria and the new square in which is the tower of St . Jacques-le-Boucherie *

The lines of route and traffic from the bridge , past the theatres , take such sharp turns round the planted area , that accidents must certainly occur . AVe have alread y once , or oftener , mentioned this great defect in the planning , which is exceptional in Paris to the general merit of new street lines . The angles should now be cut off , and the inner area made octagonal . This short notice of

the street , improvements connected with the theatres , would not be complete without mention of the alteration that has been made in that part of the quay ( Quai de la Megisserie , and Quai de Gevres ) , on which these buildings are situated , by raising the level . This is in continuation of work of the same kind which has been effected elsewhere along the river , and by which the

highest rise of the water is now kept within the proper channel . A large number of old houses along the quay and north of it , thus have been destroyed to make room for the theatres , or in result of the alterations in the level . English visitors , staying a week in Paris , and writing their impressions , weep over the destruction of picturesque featuressome of which are too

in-, teresting historically ; but they should attach some value to the sanitary and other ameliorations , if not to the decorative aspect of the new streets and buildings . Whether as to the picturesque , or the matter of history and association , the value of the old streets and houses has been much over estimated . We speak with knowledge obtained after walking miles of such streets or

alleys—ruelles is the French word—as there still are south of the Quai Conti , north and south of the Rue St . Antoine , north and east of the Pantheon , and elsewhere ; and we say that it requires a much higher estimate of the interest aud utility of ancient monuments , landmarks , and associations , than even we possess , to make possible the tolerance of quarters of a town so deficient

m the prime requisites of habitations and streets , as are such as those quarters we have named . So bad , whilst so extensive and so numerous , are and have been those quarters , that to find fault , whether with tendency to annihilation of them , or with the present duration in contrast with the magnificent frontages , betrays alike ignorance of the whole question of Paris , and that of

improvement generally in towns and cities . The recent elevation of level of the " Quai de la Megisserie " appears to be the fourth or fifth operation of the kind , which has been found necessary thereat . The quay was first constructed in the year 1369 , in the reign of Charles Y ., when it was called Quai cle la Saunerie . This name was changed to that of Yallee cle Misere , or

Quai de la Ponlaillerie , for one portion of the quay to the east , and to that of Quai de la Megisserie for the portion ending where now is the Pont Neuf ; and in 1529 , under Francis the First , the whole seems to have been reconstructed . In 1769 , under Louis XY , the quay again was repaired and enlarged , after which it acquired the name of Quai de la Ferraille , on account

of the dealers iu old iron and "batteries de cuisine " who established themselves there . One of the principal dealers in articles of the latter description , alluded to in one of our recent papers on cooking apparatus , is still attached to the same quarter . The Quai cle la Ferraille became , by day , the resort of saltim-banques , flower and bird sellers , and recruiting-parties ; and by

night a scene of disorder in which the knife is said to have often played its part . One of the most notorious places was a ganibling-house called the "Biribi des Yertus . " A wit of the time wrote of the uproar by day : — " II est enjoint aux vieax ferrailletirs , D'atler porter leur Viexfer ailleurs . '" In the reign of Louis Phillippe , or between 1833 and