In the early 1980s, architects were looking for an alternative to the cold and inhuman style of modernism, and they gravitated toward what's now known as postmodernism.
Just a little further to the west, discover the Vedado district, a mix of fabulous 1950s modernist buildings and neoclassical mansions patiently awaiting restoration.
David Heathcote, an architectural historian, predicts that as the best modernist buildings reach an age at which they need restoration, architects will have to forge closer links with salvage firms.
Buyers who were busy creating collections of modern American masters, now had to have a Rothko along with their Pollocks, their de Koonings and their Klines.
Upstream, in the shadow of the modernist Ministry of Finance, the Port de Bercy and its former warehouses were once the country's wine-distribution centre.