Paris WorldWide #9

carnet d’adresses address book
• Boire et manger Eat and drink
Marcel
1, villa Léandre, Paris 18 e (01 46 06 04 04, restaurantmarcel.fr).
• Dormir Sleep
La Chambre d’hôte de Paris
6, villa Daviel, Paris 13 e (01 45 65 91 09, chambredhotedeparis.com).
• écouter, voir Listen, see
Le Studio de l’Ermitage
8, rue de l’Ermitage, Paris 20 e (01 44 62 02 86, studio-ermitage.com).
En haut et en bas,
la villa de l’Ermitage
abrite de nombreux
ateliers d’artistes
(Paris 20 e ).
Top and bottom, the
Villa de l’Hermitage
houses many artists’
studios (Paris 20th).
mansions’ splendour is visible
from the adjoining Rue Poussin or
along the Petite Ceinture. In the
16th arrondissement, starting at
the Villa Beauséjour and its cabins
at Hameau Boileau, all the islets
of elite society are barricaded. To
see anything of these mansions
means heading to Paris’s north,
in Montmartre. With pediments
of white or red brick adorned with
bow windows and vines, Villa
Léandre conveys the feeling of
a quaint English cottage. These
terraced houses in the Art Nouveau
style have housed the same
families for generations.
COLLECTIVELY BUILT,
LIVING ALONE
A similar atmosphere prevails
at Villa Daviel. At the foot of the
Butte-aux-Cailles, among the
street-art frescoes, this alley’s
houses groan under wisteria
vines and seem stifled by the tall
buildings of the 13th arrondissement.
Cottage-like, these houses
recall a time when the dream of
a having a home in central Paris
passed from the bourgeoisie to
the working class. Construction
cooperatives, created in the early
20th century, assembled workers,
artisans and foremen to build
the Mouzaïa neighborhood; the
Hameau du Danube, just beyond
the Buttes-Chaumont; and
the Campagne à Paris at Porte
de Bagnolet, a coveted housing
estate of 93 stone houses. But
the most original experiment
played out on the other side of
Rue Daviel. In front of the villa,
a charming porch topped by a
sloping roof and framed by two
half-timbered facades draws the
eye. Past the blue wooden gate
lies the Petite Alsace, where 40
pavilions are arranged around a
central tree-lined square. In 1912,
Abbot Viollet, a proponent of social
Catholicism, commissioned
architect John Walter to design
the project. A native of France’s
Jura region, Walter, following the
English model, designed a garden
city unique in France.
126 - paris Worldwide septembre/octobre
september/october 2015