AMONG OLD STREETS
Round about these old palaces and churches some ancient streets still
remain and many old houses, relics of bygone ages. Others have been
swept away to make room for up-to-date thoroughfares, shops and
dwellings. Place de l’École and Rue de l’École record the existence of
the famous school at St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, a catechists’ school in the
first instance, of more varied scope in Charlemagne’s time, where the
pupils took their lessons in the open air when fine or climbed into the
font of the baptistery when the font was dry. Rue de l’Arbre-Sec, once
Rue de l’Arbre-Sel, from an old sign, a thoroughfare since the twelfth
century, was in past days the site of the gallows. There it is said
Queen Brunehaut was hacked to death. Part of this ancient street was
knocked down to make way for the big shop “la Samaritaine”; but some
ancient houses still stand. No. 4, recently razed, is believed to have
been the hôtel des Mousquetaires, the home of d’Artagnan,
lieutenant-captain of that famous band.
Rue Perrault runs where in bygone times Rue d’Auxerre, dating from 1005,
and Rue des Fossés St-Germain-l’Auxerrois stretched away to the
Monnaie--the Mint. No. 4, hôtel de Sourdis, rebuilt in the eighteenth
century, was the home in her childhood of Gabrielle d’Estrées. No. 2, is
the entrance to the _presbytère_ St-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Rue de la
Monnaie, a thirteenth-century street known at first by other names,
recalls the existence of the ancient Mint on the site of Rue Boucher
close by. In Rue du Roule, eighteenth century, we see old ironwork
balconies. Rue du Pont-Neuf is modern, on the line of ancient streets of
which all traces have gone. Most of the houses in Rue des Bourdonnais
are ancient: In the walls of No. 31 we see two or three ancient stones
of the famous La Trémouille Mansion once there occupied by the English
under Charles VI. No. 34 dates from 1615. From the door of 39 the
Tête-Noire with its _barbe d’Or_, which gave the house its name, still
looks down. The sixth-century cabaret of l’Enfant-Jesus, the monogram
I.H.S. in wrought iron on its frontage, has been razed. No. 14 is
believed to have been the home of Greuze. The impasse at 37, in olden
times Fosse aux chiens, was a pig-market where in the fourteenth century
heretics were burnt. Rue Bertin-Poirée dates from the early years of the
thirteenth century, recording the name of a worthy citizen of those long
past days. At No. 5 we see a curious old sign “La Tour d’Argent”; out of
this old street we turn into the Rue Jean-Lantier recording the name of
a thirteenth-century Parisian, much of it and the ancient place du
Chevalier-du-Guet which was here, swept away in 1854. Rue des
Lavandières-Ste-Opportune, thirteenth century, reminds us of the
existence of an old church, Ste-Opportune, in the neighbourhood. Rue des
Deux-Boules existed under another name in the twelfth century. And here
in the seventeenth century was l’École du Modèle, nucleus of l’Académie
des Beaux-Arts.
Rue des Orfèvres began in 1300 as Rue des Deux-portes. An old chapel,
St-Eloi, stood till 1786 by the side of No. 8. Rue St-Germain-l’Auxerrois
was a thoroughfare so far back as the year 820. No. 19 is the site of a
famous episcopal prison: For-l’Evêque. 38, at l’Arche Marion, duels were
wont to be fought in olden days. Rue des Bons-Enfants, aforetime Rue
des Echoliers St-Honoré, was so-called from the College founded in 1202
for “les Bons-Enfants” on the site of the neighbouring Rue Montesquieu,
suppressed in 1602. Many of the old houses we see there were the
possession and abode of the dignitaries of St-Honoré. A tiny church
dedicated to Ste-Claire was in past days close up against the walls of
No. 12. A vaulted arch and roof and staircase, lately razed, formed
the entrance to the ancient cloister. Beneath a coat-of-arms over the
doorway of No. 11, where is the Passage de la Vérité, an old inscription
told of a reading-room once there, where both morning and evening papers
were to be found. 19, hôtel de la Chancellerie d’Orléans, is on the
site of a more ancient mansion. All the houses of this and neighbouring
streets show some trace of their former state. Rue Radziwill was once
Rue Neuve des Bons-Enfants, the name still to be seen on an old wall
near the Banque de France. Nearly all the houses there have now become
dependencies and offices of the Banque de France, one side of which
gives upon the even number side of the street. At No. 33 is a wonderful
twin staircase. At its starting it divides in two and winds up with
old-time grace to the top story. Two persons can mount at once without
meeting. Rue la Vrillière dates from 1652, named after the Secrétaire
d’État of Louis XIV, whose mansion, remodelled, is the Banque de France
with added to it the Salle Dorée des Fêtes and some other remains of the
hôtel de Toulouse.
Rue Croix des Petits-Champs dates from 1600, its name referring to a
cross which stood on the site of No. 12. No. 7, entrance of the old
Cloître St-Honoré. In the courtyard of No. 21 we see traces of the
habitation of the abbés. No. 23, hôtel des Gesvres, was the home of the
parents of Mme de Pompadour.
* * * * *
Two long and important streets, one ancient the other modern, stretch
through the entire length of this first arrondissement from east to
west: Rue de Rivoli and Rue St-Honoré.
Rue de Rivoli, dating from the first half of the nineteenth century, was
begun at its western end in the year 1811, across the site of ancient
royal stables, along the line of the famous riding-school of the
Tuileries gardens, and on through grounds erewhile the property of the
three great convents: les Feuillants, les Capucins, l’Assomption. It
swept away ancient streets and houses, picturesque courts and corners--a
fine new thoroughfare built over the ruins of historic walls and
pavements. There is little to say, therefore, about the buildings one
sees there now. The hôtel Continental is on the site of one of the first
of the constructions then erected--the Ministère des Finances, built
during the second decade of the nineteenth century, burnt to the ground
by the Commune in 1871. The famous Salle des Manèges, where the
Revolutionary governments sat and King Louis XVI’s trial took place, was
on the site of the houses numbered 230-226: l’hôtel Meurice, restaurant
Rumpelmayer, etc., No. 186, a popular tearoom run by a British firm, is
near the site of the Grande Écurie of vanished royalty, and of a
well-known passage built there in the early years of the nineteenth
century.
Admiral Coligny fell assassinated on the spot occupied by the house
number 144. Passing on into the fourth arrondissement, we come to the
Square St-Jacques, formed in 1854, where had stood the ancient church
St-Jacques-la-Boucherie, of which the tower alone remains, a beautiful
sixteenth-century tower, restored in the nineteenth century by the
architect Ballu. Nos. 18-16 are on the site of the ancient convent of
the Petit St-Antoine. In its chapel the Committee of the section “des
droits de l’Homme” sat in Revolution days.
Rue St-Honoré is full of historic houses and historic associations. Its
present name dates only from the year 1540, recalling the existence of
the collegiate church of the district. Like most other long, old
thoroughfares, Rue St-Honoré is made up of several past-time streets
lying in a direct line, united under a single name. Almost every
building along its course bears interesting traces of past grandeur or
of commercial importance. Many have quaint, odd sign-boards: No. 96 is
on the site of the Pavillon des Singes, where, in 1622, Molière was
born. At No. 115 we see inscriptions dating from 1715. No. 108 is
l’hôtel de l’Ecouvette, formerly part of hôtel Brissac. No. 145 is on a
site where passed the boundary wall of Phillippe-Auguste and where was
built subsequently a mansion inhabited by the far-famed duc de Joyeuse,
then by Gabrielle d’Estrées, and wherein one Jean Châtel made an attempt
upon the life of Henri IV. Nos. 180, 182, 184 were connected with the
Cloître St-Honoré. No. 202 bore an inscription recording the erection
here of the Royal Academy of Music by Pierre Moreau--1760-70--burnt down
ten years later. No. 161, the Café de la Régence, replaced the famous
café founded at the corner of the Palais-Royal in 1681, the
meeting-place of chess-players. A chessboard was lent at so much the
hour, the rate higher after sunset to pay for the two candles placed
near. Voltaire, Robespierre, Buonaparte, Diderot, etc., and in later
days Alfred de Musset and his contemporaries, met here. The city wall of
Charles V passed across the site with its gateway, Porte St-Honoré. At
this spot Jeanne d’Arc was wounded in 1429 and carried thence to the
maison des Genêts on the site of No. 4, Place du Théâtre-Français. A bit
of the ancient wall was found beneath the pavement there some ten years
ago. No. 167, Arms of England. No. 280: Jeanne Vanbernier is said to
have been saleswoman in a milliner’s shop here. No. 201 shows the
old-world sign “Au chien de St-Roch.” At No. 211, hôtel St-James, are
traces of the ancient hôtel de Noailles, which included several distinct
buildings and extensive grounds. Part of it became, at the Revolution,
the Café de Vénus; part the meeting-place of the Committees of
Revolutionary governments. At 320 we see another old sign-board: “A la
Tour d’Argent.” No. 334 was inhabited by Maréchal de Noailles, brother
of the Archbishop of Paris, in 1700. Nos. 340-338 show traces of the
ancient convent of the Jacobins. At No. 350, hôtel Pontalba, with its
fine eighteenth-century staircase, lived Savalette de Langes, keeper of
the Royal Treasure, who lent seven million francs to the brothers of
Louis XVI, money never repaid, the home in Revolution days of Barrère,
where Napoléon signed his marriage contract. Nos. 235, 231, 229, were
built by the Feuillants 1782 as sources of revenue, and are the last
remaining vestiges of the old convent. At 249 we see the Arms and
portrait of Queen Victoria dating from the time of Louis-Philippe. No.
374 was the hôtel of Madame Géoffrin, whose salon was the meeting-place
of the most noted politicians, _littérateurs_ and artistes of the day,
among them Châteaubriand, who made the house his home for a time. At No.
263 stands the chapel of the ancient convent des Dames de l’Assomption
(_see_ p. 29).
No. 398 is perhaps in part the very house, more probably the house
entirely rebuilt, inhabited for a time by Robespierre and some of his
family and by Couthon. No. 400 was the Imperial bakery in the time of
Napoléon III. No. 271, now a modern erection, was till quite recently
the famous cabaret du St-Esprit, dating from the seventeenth century,
where during the Terreur sightseers gathered to watch the tragic
chariots pass laden with victims for the guillotine. Marie-Antoinette
passed that way and was subjected to that cruel scrutiny.
The greater number of the streets of this arrondissement running
northwards start from Rue de Rivoli, and cross Rue St-Honoré, or start
from the latter. Beginning at the western end of Rue Rivoli, we see Rue
St-Florentin dating from 1640, so named more than a century later when
the comte de St-Florentin deputed the celebrated architects Chalgrin and
Gabriel to build the mansion we see at No. 2. It was a splendid mansion
then, with surrounding galleries, fine gardens, a big fountain, and was
the home of successive families of the _noblesse_. In 1792, it was the
Venetian Embassy, under the Terreur a saltpeter factory. At No. 12 was
an inn where people gathered to watch the condemned pass to the
scaffold.
Rue Cambon, so named after the Conventional author of the Grand Livre de
La Dette Publique, dates in its lower part, when it was Rue de
Luxembourg, from 1719, prolonged a century later. Some of the older
houses still stand, and have interesting vestiges of past days; others,
razed in recent years, have been replaced by modern constructions. The
new building, “Cour des Comptes,” built to replace the Palais du Quai
d’Orsay burnt by the Communards in 1871, is on the site of the ancient
convent of the Haudriettes, suppressed in 1793, when it became the
garrison of the Cent Suisses, later a financial depot. The convent
chapel, left untouched, serves as the catechists’ chapel for the
Madeleine, and has services attended especially by Poles.
In Rue Duphot, opened in 1807 across the old garden of the Convent of
the Conception, we see at No. 12 an ancient convent arch and courtyard.
Rue Castiglione (1811) stretches across the site of the convents Les
Feuillants and Les Capucins.
In Rue du Mont-Thabor, stretching where was once a convent garden, a
vaulted roof and chapel-like building at No. 24, at one time an artist’s
studio, remains of the convent once there, is about to be razed. Orsini
died at No. 10; Alfred de Musset at No. 6 (1857).
PLACE VENDÔME
In the year 1685 Louis XIV set about the erection of a grand _place_
intended as a monument in his own honour. The site chosen was that of
the hôtel Vendôme which had recently been razed, and of the neighbouring
convent of the Capucins. The death of Louvois--1691--interrupted this
work. It was taken in hand a year or two later by Mansart and Boffrand,
who designed in octagonal form the vast _place_ called at first Place
des Conquêtes, then Place Louis-le-Grand. A statue of Louis XIV was set
up there in 1699. The land behind the grand façades and houses erected
by the State was sold for building purposes to private persons, and the
notorious banker Law and his associates finished the Place in 1720.
Royal fêtes were held there and popular fairs. Soon it was the scene of
financial agitations, then of Revolutionary tumults. On August 10, 1792,
heads of the guillotined were set up there on spikes and the square was
named Place des Piques. A bonfire was made of volumes referring to the
title-deeds of the French _noblesse_ and the archives of the St-Esprit;
and in 1796 the machines which had been used to make _assignats_ were
solemnly burnt there. In 1810 the Colonne d’Austerlitz was set up where
erewhile had stood the statue of Louis XIV, made of cannons taken from
the enemy, its bas-reliefs illustrative of the chief events of the
momentous year 1805. It was surmounted by a statue of Napoléon, which,
in 1814, the Royalists vainly attempted to pull down by means of ropes.
It was taken away later, the _drapeau blanc_ put up in its stead.
Napoléon’s statue, melted down, was transformed into the statue of Henri
IV on the Pont-Neuf, replacing the original statue set up there (_see_
p. 340). In 1833, Napoléon went up again, a newly designed statue,
replaced in its turn by a reproduction of the first one in 1865. In
1871, the Column was overturned by the Communards, but set up anew by
the French Government under MacMahon.
Every mansion on the Place, most of them now commercial hotels or
business-houses, was at one time or another the habitation of noted men
and women, and recalls historic events. The façades of Nos. 9 and 7 are
classed as historic monuments; their preservation cared for by the
State. No. 23 was the scene of Law’s speculations after his forced move
from his quarters in the old Rue Quincampoix. At No. 6 Chopin died.
[Illustration: PLACE ET COLONNE VENDÔME]
The Rue and Marché St-Honoré are on the site of the ancient convent and
chapel of the Jacobins, suppressed at the Revolution, and where the
famous club des Jacobins was established. The market dates from 1810.
Rue Gomboust dates from the thirteenth century, when it was Rue de la
Corderie St-Honoré. Rue de Ste-Hyacinthe dates from 1650. Rue de la
Sourdière from the seventeenth century shows us many old-time walls and
vestiges and much interesting old ironwork.
On the wall of the church St-Roch we still see the inscription “Rue
Neuve-St-Roch,” the ancient name of the street at its western end. The
street has existed from the close of the fifteenth century bearing
different names in the different parts of its course. The part nearest
the Tuileries was known in the eighteenth century as Rue du Dauphin, in
Revolution days as Rue de la Convention. Many of its houses are ancient
and of curious aspect.
In Rue d’Argenteuil, leading out of Rue St-Roch, once a country road,
stood until recent years the house where Corneille died.
Rue des Pyramides dates only from 1806, but No. 2 of the street is noted
as the meeting-place, in the rooms of a friend, of Béranger, Alexandre
Dumas, _père_, Victor Hugo and other famous writers of the day. In the
fourth story of a house in the corner of the Place dwelt Émile Augier.
From the Place du Théâtre-Français where the fountain has played since
the middle of the nineteenth century, the Avenue de l’Opéra opened out
about 1855 as Avenue Napoléon, cut through a conglomeration of ancient
streets and dwellings. Leading out of the Avenue there still remains in
this arrondissement Rue Molière, known in the seventeenth century as Rue
du Bâton-Royal, then as Rue Traversière, and always intimately
associated with actors and men of letters. Rue Ste-Anne was known in its
early days as Rue du Sang and Rue de la Basse Voirie, then an unsavoury
alley-like thoroughfare. Its present name, after Anne d’Autriche, was
given in 1633. Then for a time it was known as Rue Helvetius, in memory
of a man of letters born there in 1715. Nearly all its houses are
ancient and were the habitation in past days of noted persons, artists
and others. Nos. 43 and 47 were the property of the composer Lulli. The
street runs on into arrondissement II, where at No. 49, hôtel Thévenin,
we see an old statue of John the Baptist holding the Paschal Lamb. At
No. 46 Bossuet lived and died. No. 63 was part of the New Catholic’s
convent. Nos. 64, 66, 68, mansions owned by Louvois.
Rue Thérèse (Marie-Thérèse of Austria) was in 1880 joined on to Rue du
Hazard, a short street so called from a famous gambling-house; No. 6 has
interesting old-time vestiges. At No. 23 we see two inscriptions
honouring the memory of Abbé de l’Epée, inventor of the deaf and dumb
alphabet, who died at a house, no longer there, in Rue des Moulins. Rue
Villedo records the name of a famous master-mason of olden time. Rue
Ventadour existed in its older part in 1640. Rue de Richelieu, starting
from the Place du Théâtre-Français, goes on to arrondissement II in the
vicinity of the Bourse. It dates from the time when the Cardinal was
building his palace. Most of its constructions show interesting
architectural features, vestiges of past days, many have historic
associations. Some of the original houses were rebuilt in the eighteenth
century, some have quite recently been razed and replaced by modern
erections. Much of the fine woodwork once at No. 21 was bought and
carried away by the Marquis de Breteuil; the rest by Americans. In a
house where No. 40 now stands Molière died in 1763. No. 50, hôtel de
Strasbourg, was rebuilt in 1738 by the mother of Madame de Pompadour. In
1780 the musician Grétry lived in the fourth story of No. 52.
Rue du Louvre is a modern street where ancient streets once ran,
demolished to make way for it. At No. 13 we find traces of a tower of
the city wall of Philippe-Auguste, as also at No. 7 of the adjacent Rue
Coquillère, a thirteenth-century street with, at No. 31, vestiges of an
ancient Carmelite convent. At No. 15 we find ourselves before an arched
entrance and spacious courtyard surrounded by imposing buildings and in
its centre an immense fountain. This structure is a modern re-erection
of the ancient Cour des Fermes; the institution of the “Fermiers
Généraux” was suppressed in 1783 and definitely abolished by law in the
first year of the Revolution--1789. The members, however, continued to
meet; many were arrested and shut up as prisoners in their own old
mansion on this spot, used thenceforth, until the Revolution was over,
as a State prison.