This book draws on exceptional internal archives to provide a long view of the history of a property management company and the transformations of urban spaces in order to better understand the role financial capital plays in building cities. It is an original approach to studying the interconnectedness of economics and the urban fabric.

The dean of all property management companies in the Second Empire (even preceding such companies in Paris), the Société de la rue Impériale (SRI) gives scholars the chance to reconstruct more than 150 of property management for a single "Haussmannian" apartment building on the main boulevard of a major city: Lyon. Over the course of its existence, the historically significant edifice ensured the company profits that enabled its expansion. After a takeover from the banking sector of major property management companies in the late '60s, SRI gradually succumbed to an implacable financial logic. Its purchase by the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi ended the process of financialization of one of Lyon's most prestigious real estate holdings.