"This apartment building with which Perret established his reputation is to be regarded as one of the canonical works of 20th-century architecture, not only for its explicit and brilliant use of the reinforced concrete frame (the Hennebique system) but also for the way in which its internal organization was to anticipate Le Corbusier's later development of the free plan. Perret deliberately made the apartment partition walls nonstructural throughout and their partial removal would have yielded an open space, punctuated only by a series of free-standing columns. As it is, each floor is organized with the main and service stairs to the rear (each with its own elevator) the kitchen to one side and the principal rooms to the front. These last are divided up from left to right into rooms assigned to smoking, dining, living, sleeping and reception..."

— Kenneth Frampton and Yukio Futagawa. Modern Architecture 1851-1945. p116.

"The famous apartment block in the rue Franklin at Passy...was also built as a family speculation, although in this case for occupation by the head of the family, and for use as the office of the firm.... [A]dvantage was taken of the 1902 decree concerning bow-windows; indeed, if we measure their width, we find that they are to within 3 centimeters of the maximum area which the law allowed. An even more ingenious interpretation of the building regulations was to be seen in the semi-octagonal recess between these projections, which formed the most novel element in the composition, since it not only allowed every room a splendid view over Paris, but obviated the need to introduce the customary interior courtyard."

— Peter Collins. Concrete: The Vision of a New Architecture, A Study of Auguste Perret and his Precursors. p178-179, 181,182, 183.

The Creator's Words

"One must never allow into a building any element destined solely for ornament, but rather turn to ornament all the parts necessary for its support."

"Construction is the architect's mother tongue; the architect is a poet who thinks and speaks in construction."

— Auguste Perret. from Peter Collins. Concrete: The Vision of a New Architecture, A Study of Auguste Perret and his Precursors. p199.

Details

Address: No. 25b, Rue Franklin, Paris, France.

The address of the apartments is 25 bis rue Franklin.