The Louvre, the Place Royale (now the Place des Vosges), the
Place and rue Dauphine, the Pont Neuf, and the Hôpital Saint
Louis were part of a building program initiated by Henri IV that
would be unmatched in Paris for more than two centuries. Drawing
on previously untapped notarial archives in Paris's Minutier
central, Hilary Ballon provides a rich and original account of
the crucial period between 1605 and 1610 when Paris was
transformed from a medieval city decimated by war and neglect
into a modern capital. Ballon takes up each of the major
building projects, showing how Henri IV's vision of Paris was
translated into brick and stone. She relates the monarch's
urbanism to his broader policy objectives: promoting domestic
manufacturing, linking the court and commerce, and establishing
Paris as the focal point of a unified French state. Ballon
reveals that such works as the Place Royale, the first planned
square in Paris, and the Hôpital Saint Louis, built to protect
the city from the destabilizing effects o