New France barracks, 2e arrondissement
Starting above, we have the 1931 New France barracks, built on the site of the Old New France Barracks, dating back to the 1700s, when it supplied troops for French Canada. It continued in military use after, and is now occupied by three companies of the Garde Republicaine.
In the 6e, near the Saint-Germain-des-Pres church, this facade was actually part of a palace built in ceramic by Sevres for the 1900 Exhibition Universelle. It's the only part that was kept.
Another leftover from the 1900 Exhibition is the Theatre Grevin, with its amazing facade featuring a Cabinet Fantastique and Palace of Mirages. It was used for magic and illusion shows, and often featured George Melies, the man who, in essence, invented special effects in cinema. It's still in use for performances and recitals of various kinds.
Another porcelain connection: Choisy-le-Roi, now a suburb of Paris, was known as the home of fine porcelain and faience manufacture, and the Rue de Paradis in the 10e became the street known for crystal, porcelain and faience sales. In 1889, the Choisy-le-Roi firm built this showroom building there, with decorative earthenware walls within. It's since served other purposes, and although it's a registered landmark, at the moment it's home to a haunted house type tour. Which makes the night version of the view appropriate!
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This one is also in the 10th, on rue Reaumur, near rue Saint-Denis. I haven't found its history yet. Maybe on my next visit...
A little corner of old Paris, tucked away on the Left Bank. How it survived the Haussmann years is a mystery to me, as is the shape of some of those garret rooms.
Here's a building that IS famous, or to some eyes infamous. It's not generally a tourist destination, although it's very much in the center of the city. It's the Hotel de Ville, the city hall and seat of city government. The predecessor of this building dates to the mid-16th century but was burned in 1871. I'm always surprised to realize that people liked it enough to build the same again!
Along the Promenade Plantee, a park built onto an old railroad trestle, we spotted this Jekyll-and-Hyde building, with its ornate facade and plain flat side. When built, that side probably faced another building across an airshaft.
Another Garde Republicaine barracks, this one in western Paris. Built between the wars, it has a fairly modern look, but with a nod to the Haussmann-style rooflines of older neighbors.
This fancy building on Boulevard Sebastopol wasn't always a Monoprix supermarket, and the site wasn't always a building site, either. Last year, workers expanding the basement of the store opened a basement wall and found hundreds of skeletons neatly laid out, apparently from the hospital cemetery of Holy Trinity that operated there from the 12th to 17th centuries. Apparently, when Paris moved remains from its old cemeteries to the Catacombs, some were missed. More on that HERE
Nearby, another handsome re-purposed building...and below that, near Les Halles, an interesting new exterior for a totally featureless (perhaps should have been futureless) building.
And last, a building that is, like the Hotel de Ville, less noted for itself than for its contents: the Petit Palais. Like the Grevin and the Sevres facade, this is a survivor of the 1900 Exhibition. It's my favorite Beaux-Arts-style building in Paris, ornate and yet simple because all the elements, including statuary, know not to try to outshine the magnificent entrance. It is, of course, still an active museum with many special exhibitions.
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