An old real estate success story

Notre Dame, as seen from the Pont de Sully.

July 2, 2017 – The Place des Vosges was a successful planned real estate development by Henri IV, completed in 1612.  Although it was considered to be very upscale right from the beginning and was called a royal square, the royals did not live there (except for a brief stay by Anne of Austria). 

The nobility did like to socialize in the Place des Vosges, at least up until the Revolution.  The Place was one of a number of improvements that Henri IV made in the tattered medieval city.

What was “new” about it at that time was that the façades of all the townhomes matched, even though the homes themselves had different architects.  Henri IV also developed Place Dauphine (on the Île de la Cité) around the same time; we can see the similarities between the two developments, although the Place Dauphine does not have the unified façades.

Looking toward Victor Hugo's home in the arcade of the Place des Vosges.

The most famous of all the famous people who have lived in the Place des Vosges is, of course, Victor Hugo.  His home, located in the corner, is known as the Hôtel Rohan.  Another hôtel particulier (stately home) located off of a corner of the Place des Vosges is the Hôtel de Sully, which has two lovely formal gardens.  Both the Victor Hugo home and the gardens of the Hôtel de Sully are open to the public, with free admission, and we recommend visiting them when you’re in Paris.

To begin our walk, we took the metro to the Cardinal Lemoine station in order to conserve our energies for exploring the Place des Vosges.  From the metro, we had a pleasant walk up the rue des Fosses St. Bernard, alongside the Sorbonne’s Faculty of Sciences building and then the Arab Institute. 

Crossing the Seine on the Pont de Sully, we had an excellent view of the back of Notre Dame, in the middle distance.  We took a little detour through the Square Barye to examine the statues and flowers. 

The Square Barye.

When we crossed over to the right bank to the Boulevard Henri IV, we paused at the Place du Pere Teilhard de Chardin to look at a sculpture by Ipoustéguy, depicting a scene from the poet Rimbaud’s Bateau Ivre.  The sculpture (below) is titled “L’homme aux semelles de vent,” or “The man with the soles of wind” – a phrase Paul Verlaine liked to use to describe his friend Rimbaud.

We continued on past the Republican Guard headquarters, stopping now and then to look at a few of the many photos posted on its walls.  We turned on the rue Castex, then the rue Saint Antoine, and then the rue de Birague, which took us straight to the Place des Vosges.

Approaching the Place des Vosges entrance on the rue Birague.

As we walked around the Place, we admired the many new art galleries there.  The Place is prospering.  We remember it looking forlorn, with many vacant storefronts, not that many years ago.

We exited the Place via the gardens of the grand Hôtel de Sully, which brought us right back out to the rue Saint Antoine.  We wandered for a while, looking for a place to have refreshments, when we finally settled on Le Louis Philippe, and elegant old café/restaurant near the Pont Louis Philippe and the church of Saint Gervais.

Le Louis Philippe, a restaurant and cafe near the church of Saint Gervais.

At the café, we settled into a table with nice views in each direction.  I ordered the paté d’Hélène, and Tom had a special plate of cantaloupe and Italian ham.

We walked back as far as we could along the right bank of the Seine, but we finally threw in the towel at the Passerelle Solferino (now Passerelle Senghor).  We crossed the Seine and took the number 12 and number 10 metro home.

Thanks to an app on my phone (Samsung Galaxy 6), we know that we’ve been averaging about 15,000 steps a day on our long walks – with some days reaching almost 20,000 steps.  Not bad!

Reflection of me photographing a
gallery in the Place des Vosges.