An Aerocab Station atop the Tour Saint-Jacques

Illustration from Albert Robida’s science fiction novel Le Vingtième Siècle, or The Twentieth Century, from 1883. Robida shows an aerocab station built atop the Tour Saint-Jacques in Paris.

The above illustration was drawn by Albert Robida for his 1883 novel Le Vingtième Siècle, or The Twentieth Century. The novel describes a future vision for Paris in the 1950’s, focusing on technological advancements and how they would affect the daily lives of Parisians. This illustration was titled La Station d'Aerocabs de la Tour Saint-Jacques, or The Aerocab Station of the Tour Saint-Jacques, and it shows a raised platform and clock atop the iconic Parisian structure. Flocking around the tower is a group of dirigibles made to look like fish. What’s charming about the image is how the cluster of dirigibles resemble a school of fish, almost crowding out the tower itself from the image.

Of course, crafts such as this would never fly so close together, but it does make for a whimsical scene. It’s quite similar to Robida’s other aerial station perched above a Gothic landmark, and it illustrates how revolutionary he believed air travel to be. Regardless, the idea is impractical and would no doubt be controversial to preservationists, but there’s something tongue-in-cheek about it that I find charming.

Check out other cartoons dealing with verticality here.