[10] In an 1866 article in the Gazette he pointed out that the main requirements for church builders were to cover large spaces with few internal supports so that many believers could move easily, and to meet the needs of the religion.

[11] In 1869 he published Église du bourgs et de villages, which discussed and compared old and modern forms of churches, arguing the case for constant improvements in architectural design.

In 1882 Anatole de Baudot was appointed architect for the new Lycée Lakanal, a boarding school in Sceaux set in the former park of the Duchess of Maine.

[15] He adopted the system developed by Paul Cottancin, an engineer from the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures, based on columns and arches of cement reinforced by iron rods and a wire mesh.

[17] De Baudot's design for the church of Saint-Jean-de-Montmartre, Paris, whose construction started in 1894, was the first to use a reinforced concrete framework enclosed by thin exterior walls.

[20] The same year he was appointed to the chair of History of Art at the Trocadéro, where he became interested in the study of Roman architecture in France.

[21] He supported the creation of a course on the history of medieval architecture at the Beaux Arts, since this knowledge was essential for architects responsible for restoring buildings from that period.

[22] He was against mixing historical styles, making "irrational" use of columns and orders, and using stone in place of modern materials.

This was apparent in a 1905 plan he submitted for a public housing project with small and inaccessible interior yards, brick walls in reinforced concrete frames.

[21] De Baudot also called for a fresh start in developing contemporary architecture under the influence of engineers.

[25] In 1889, the year of the exposition, he said, A long time ago the influence of the architect declined, and the engineer, l'homme moderne par excellence, is beginning to replace him...

[26] However, commenting on the Galerie des machines built for the 1889 exposition, De Baudot found that the proportions did not work.

He was disconcerted by the reversal of proportions from traditional structures: the supports tapered towards the ground, and the steel girders were narrow and light.

[27] In 1905 his alternative design was published, enclosing an equal area with supporting pillars and arches that had more conventional proportions.