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On a recent trip to Europe, accompanied by my wife, I had the opportunity to survey a wide variety of architectural styles and observe close up how architecture and design has played a role in shaping European cities. The following is a photographic essay I’d like to share with you which illustrates my perspective of European architecture over a three-week period.

Paris
Weather throughout the trip was good, so we spent most of our time in Paris outdoors, wandering the streets and alleys in and around the famous sites, as well as some parts of the city that probably aren’t found on tourist maps. As an architecture enthusiast, highlights of visiting Paris included the grand apartment buildings, hotels, civic buildings and churches built in the various styles of classical, baroque, neo-classical, art nouveau, art deco and more. Since Paris has fewer modern buildings than other European cities, it’s a real treat to come across modernism dotted around the city.

One of the best examples of 20^th century modernism in Paris is the work of famed architect Le Corbusier. Situated on a quiet side street in an upper middle class neighborhood of Auteuil on the outskirts of Paris, is Foundation Le Corbusier. The foundation occupies residential structures designed by Le Corbusier and built between 1923 – 1925. One of the structures – Maison la Roche – can be toured Mon-Sat for a fee of €5. Le Corbusier’s design was novel architecture for the era, featuring generous amounts of glass, open interior space planning, a grand curved wall, a white exterior palette and a lack of ornamental details.

Another architectural highlight of Paris was a visit to the Promenade Plantée, a 2.9 mi pedestrian pathway built on the former Vincennes railway line. Much of the Promenade is situated above street level, offering spectacular views of majestic Parisian residential boulevards and apartment buildings. The pathway contains beautiful gardens planted nearly throughout. Construction was completed in 1993. Until the opening of NYC’s High Line park in 2010, the Promenade Plantée was for years the world’s only elevated park. I find the High Line to be more dynamic as a design, and thus easier to photograph. That said, we thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the Promenade Plantée and highly recommend it to any visitors to Paris who wish to get away from the tourist sites for a few hours.

Liège
The highlight of our visit to Liège, and for me, THE modern architecture highlight of the trip, by a country mile, was arriving via train from Paris to the new Liège-Guillemins train station designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava’s fourth built train station in Europe, following his efforts in Zurich, Lyon and Lisbon, the Liège-Guillemins is a modern masterpiece. The station is constructed of steel, glass and white concrete. We were fortunate to arrive on a sunny day and to experience the play of sunlight and shadow that is created throughout the interior of the station from Calatrava’s intricate, swooping structure. As a passenger, the station was an absolute joy to arrive and depart from. Nearby, Calatrava also contributed an auto/pedestrian bridge design that would normally be a major sensation itself in the context of most urban landscapes, but in this context, the bridge is a nice addition that plays a supporting role to the magnificent station structure.

Frankfurt
One of Europe’s financial capitals, Frankfurt was largely destroyed during WWII. As a result the city is architecturally contemporary overall, with gleaming new skyscrapers and elegant modern shopping malls that mix with some beautiful older structures of great character. My uncle and aunt reside in Frankfurt, and they took us on some wonderful walking and driving tours in and around the city. Highlights of our visit included the nearby Rhine region where castles dot the landscape, comingling with gorgeous hillside vineyards, St. Stephen’s church in nearby Mainz (featuring beautiful stained glass windows by renowned artist Marc Chagall), and an evening walk along Frankfurt’s Main river.

Prague
I had heard for years about the beautiful city of Prague and being skeptical, wondered if it would live up to expectations. We were quite impressed. With the combination of preserved ornamental old buildings, set amidst the Vltava river with beautiful, architecturally rich city districts and hillsides as a backdrop, Prague is a real treat for the eyes. Our good Czech friend Peter, a Prague resident, took us on some wonderful tours by car and by foot to areas of the city little known to visitors. Architectural highlights included the Charles Bridge and the St. Vitus cathedral, which I believe is the biggest cathedral I’ve visited in Europe. The light shining that day through the cathedral windows was otherworldly.

Berlin
Monumental city. There was too much to see in the short time we had, so a return visit is necessary. That said, we did enjoy quite a thorough survey of Berlin sights. Architectural highlights include the Reichstag building, with innovative steel and glass cupola by architect Sir Norman Foster, The Jewish Museum Berlin by architect Daniel Libeskind, and the Neue Nationalgalerie by the legendary architect Mies van der Rohe. Touring the Reichstag building was a wonderful, unique experience. The free tour includes a very good audio program that explains to visitors what one is viewing as they advance up the spiral and look out over Berlin at many of the important sights.

The Jewish Museum Berlin, with addition by Daniel Libeskind completed in 2001, is an impressive structure that invites museum goers to meander and explore the exhibits. The angular design is energetic and at times unsettling. Highlights of the museum structure are the contemplative Holocaust Tower and Memory Void, which contains an installation of strikingly originality. Titled Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman has created an installation from 10,000 faces punched out of steel that lay on the floor. Visitors are allowed to walk across the faces, which produces an eerie, cacophonous clanking sound unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

The Neue Nationalgalerie (1968) designed by architect Mies van der Rohe, at age 82, was his final project, and may be the last mid-century modern structure built at such scale. The Neue Nationalgalerie houses a very good contemporary art collection. The bulk of the museum is located below street level. A massive, iconic steel and glass pavilion rests on top of the gallery spaces, a few feet above street level. There are many outstanding photos taken of this pavilion over the years and I tried my best to replicate these. For modern architecture enthusiasts such as myself, the Neue Nationalgalerie represents a revered time in architectural practice when designing structures of elegant minimalism was the pinnacle of achievement. Mies van der Rohe certainly went out in style by leaving us with this last building. It puts the exclamation point on a remarkable career and body of work that continues to influence architects the world over.

Amsterdam
This is another city that requires more exploration on a return visit. We found the city to be orderly, and extremely bike friendly. It appears that half of the residents make their way around on bicycles. We thought we’d join them one morning, and rented bikes from our hotel to spend the entire day peddling around. Most of the Amsterdam photos that follow were taken at various stops while biking through the city. Architectural highlights included the Museumplein, charming old apartment buildings at the canals, neighborhoods of all mid-century modern houses, and new contemporary structures in the north of the city, including the spectacular EYE Film Institute Netherlands building.

This trip to Europe was very inspiring. It has left me and my wife only wanting to see more, which we will. As an architecture enthusiast and photography hobbyist, I felt blessed with having beautiful sights and buildings of character in every direction, down every street and alleyway. It got overwhelming at times, but I’m glad I put in the effort to photograph daily. It was a fun challenge to put together this extensive article. Thank you for spending some time with it.

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This article is dedicated to Jan Hochstim (1931 – 2011) architect, professor, author, cherished friend and mentor, who helped to deepen my appreciation and understanding of architecture.