In 1882, the Société de Médecine Publique et d’Hygiène Professionnelle publishes L’Etude et les Progrès de l’Hygiène en France de 1878 à 1882, an official assessment of the results of the policies of the Third Republic in the field of Hygiene. The foreword is signed by Professor Paul Brouardel (1837-1906), chairman of the Société, member of the Comité consultatif d’hygiène de France, and a leading figure of the Faculty of Medicine. Brouardel was a specialist of legal medicine. When the modern Morgue of Paris was built on the Ile de la Cité (architect Jacques-Emile Gilbert, 1861-1864) during the Second Empire, Brouardel created a class in this new building, where he could show his students how to practice autopsies.

An important part of L’Etude et les Progrès de l’Hygiène en France de 1878 à 1882 deals with the quality of architectural constructions. It includes descriptions of certain buildings that are classified according to the architectural programs they belong to, with a wide range of schools and hospitals. Credit is given to the most remarkable buildings for their sanitary and scientific qualities. At that period of the Third Republic, Professors of Medicine had acquired a long-lasting experience in the field of public architecture through their growing involvement in the comité d’hygiène et de salubrité du département de la Seine, created in 1802 by the Préfet de police. With L’Etude et les Progrès de l’Hygiène en France de 1878 à 1882, the medical profession assesses its point of view on Modern architecture and its icons, with a special focus on Paris.

In this paper I shall show that the relation between Medicine and Architecture, in the sense that progress made in Medicine gives an impetus to Modern Architecture, traces its origins during the Eighteenth Century. I shall comment on five major moments of this emulating relation through selected examples, including the climax of 1882. The year 1769 provides the first moment. On that year, architect Jacques Gondouin receives the commission of the new Ecole de Chirurgie (now Faculty of Medicine), where he uses the neo-classical language for the building and for the amphitheater of anatomy, which becomes a model. After a discussion on the role of Germain Boffrand as a forerunner of « Urban Hygiene », the following examples belong to the nineteenth century. They explore the impetus given by Hygiene to modern architectural typologies in the field of markets, hospitals and schools. The year 1882 is a climax because the Société de Médecine Publique acts as an Academy of Modern Architecture, in order to promote actively a new architecture that meets the needs of citizens. In a brief conclusion, I shall bring new perpectives on the role of Hygiene for the rise of Modern Architecture.