BEYOND THE RAMPART'S SITE IS A GIANT CROSSROAD
(RUE SAINT-DENIS / RUE RÉAUMUR)
It dates from Europe's first working-class insurrection.
(Insurrection, June 1848; transformation, 1853-1854)
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Vast rue Reaumur cuts through rue Saint-Denis and the whole locality:
At the corner a grand Art Nouveau edifice replaces that of 1860, built after the neighborhood had been razed and a homogeneous architecture created:
It was the headquarters of one of France's first chains, Félix Potin groceries.
The Queue before Félix Potin in Novembre 1870 by Alfred Decaen and Jacques Giaud, 1870 / zoom
At that corner you come upon a great, straight artery. Walk down the boulevard of trees and stately buildings to see more of how the city abruptly changed:
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Boulevard de Sébastopol
- At the second crossroad turn right (on rue Greneta) and turn back toward rue Saint-Denis:
Adapted from a Google map
- The house with balconies shows where the neighborhood was torn down and transformation launched:
Corner rues Greneta and de Palestro
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Rue Saint-Denis is a frontier between the once-plebeian east and the wealthier west, which remains largely unchanged:
Paris in 1530 / zoom
- There and to the west streets are small, have no trees and houses are narrow and plain. Different social classes occupied those dwellings, the poorest living on the highest floors, to drag water etc. up the stairs.*
*So "the artist in the garret."
Narrow houses on rue Montorgueil, five minutes west of rue Saint-Denis
- East of rue Saint-Denis imposing buildings for companies and the wealthy replaced the streets where workers clustered:
The typical architecture of place du Châtelet at the center.
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The overpopulated, epidemic-prone city had to modernize. How and when it did came from fear of another working-class revolt.
More later.
End of this short section.
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