Alright, coming up on your left is Rue Puvis-de-Chavannes-a street with a name that’s a bit of a mouthful, and a past filled with character, drama, and, inevitably, a dash of Parisian style.
On the surface, this leafy residential street might look like the well-behaved sibling of Parisian boulevards, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Rue Puvis-de-Chavannes only joined the Paris map in 1899, making it a late arrival compared to its older neighbors. Before that, what you’re standing on would’ve been the last rugged bump of the old Butte de la Planchette-a hunting spot that, back in the 1600s, was a playground for aristocrats who had a thing for feathers, fur, and flintlocks. You and your fellow urban explorers would have been ducking stray pheasants, rather than SUVs.
The street gets its name from Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, one of France’s big names in classical painting. When he died in 1898, the city, still mourning, speedily decided to name this brand-new street in his honor. You could say he barely made it out of his own funeral before the sign went up. Puvis de Chavannes lived nearby at Avenue de Villiers, so the tribute was a bit of a local affair.
Now, check out number 4 Rue Puvis-de-Chavannes. Here stands a small neo-Renaissance ‘hôtel’-not a hotel where you’d check in for the night, but a fashionable townhome style for Paris’s upper crust. Built in 1903 for a wealthy bachelor-art collector, it boasts grand reception rooms upstairs and a dramatic top-floor gallery with enormous windows-perfect for gazing at your art, or out at nosy neighbors. Thing is, our bachelor lost his nerve when friends grumbled the street was too far from the social whirl, so he sold up before even decorating the inside. Some people just can’t handle the quiet.
Enter Louis Renault, the young car magnate who leased the place with his partner, the glamorous opera singer Jeanne Hatto. Renault insisted on having his very own garage-the street’s original ‘remise à automobile,’ right there at ground level-a rare luxury when cars themselves were something you bragged about. In today’s money, those early automobiles could easily set you back the equivalent of several hundred thousand dollars. Admittedly, if you wanted to impress the Parisian crowd before World War I, that was one way to do it.
A little further down at number 10, you’ll find an Art Nouveau building with delicate floral touches. It was here, much later in the twentieth century, that celebrated Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky spent his final days-proof that the street has long attracted creative, and at times tragic, souls.
Keep walking and you’ll spot more early 1900s buildings, like the clean-lined corner office of Michelin Tyres-not as modern as it looks, because back in 1909, reinforced concrete was all the rage among architects looking to impress their friends and clients.
So, Rue Puvis-de-Chavannes-part artists’ haunt, part social experiment, home to drivers, dreamers, and more than a few elegant façades. Whenever you’re ready, the Plaine-de-Monceaux district is just a 7-minute stroll northwest.
