Author Archives: Parisian Fields

About Parisian Fields

Parisian Fields is the blog of two Toronto writers who love Paris. When we can't be there, we can write about it. We're interested in everything from its history and architecture to its graffiti and street furniture. We welcome comments, suggestions, corrections, and musings from all readers.

Zinc

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Parisian Fields

So many sights in Paris pique our curiosity and lead us to learn things we would not have learned otherwise. This blog post began as we thought about the beauty of Paris’s zinc roofs. One could argue that zinc roofs … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history | Tagged Belgium, Bon Marche, Esperanto, galvanizing, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Jean-Jacques Dony, Liège, Maison de la Metallurgie et de l’Industrie, Moresnet, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, roofing, Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne, UNESCO, Vieille Montagne, white rust, zinc bars | 7 Comments

Twenty questions

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Parisian Fields

A happy Saint-Sylvestre to you all! A few of you may wonder what that means, but in France, New Year’s Eve is often called by the name of the saint whose day falls on December 31. That fact got us … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris popular culture, Paris postcards, Paris streets | Tagged Arc de Triomphe, Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, avenue Foch, Café Varenne, C’était un rendez-vous, Centre Pompidou, chasse-roue, Chevaux de Marly, Claude Chappe, Claude Lelouch, Deyrolle, Dufayel, fiacre, La Samaritaine, Le Grand Mogol, Marie Antoinette, Marie Curie, Mel Bonis, metonymy, Notre Dame du Travail, Oscar Wilde, Place Beauvau, Point du Jour, Porte St-Denis, Porte St-Martin, Quai d’Orsay, Rose Bertin, rue de Varenne, rue Xaintrailles, rue Xavier-Privas, Saint-Sylvestre, Sophie Berthelot, St-Fiacre | 14 Comments

Cloches et clochers

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Parisian Fields

On April 15 of this year, as Paris remained in lockdown, one of Notre Dame’s bells rang out to mark a year since the fire that largely destroyed the cathedral’s interior. The bell’s name was Emmanuel, and a grainy still … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris music | Tagged angelus, Bells, Belltowers, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Glockenfriedhof, Louis Vierne, Napoleon Bonaparte, Notre Dame Cathedral, Notre-Dame-de-Jouy, Regis Singer, Sacre Coeur, Saint-Severin, Sainte-Odile, Savoyarde, Second World War, St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, St-Merri, St-Philippe-du-Roule, St-Yves, Stephen J. Thorne | 9 Comments

Péniche

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Parisian Fields

A November day some years ago. We are dawdling by the Seine when we spot a barge filled with coal being pushed up the Seine. Two days later, we are exploring the Parc André Citroën. As we cross over to … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history, Seine | Tagged barge, Bassin de la Villette, chaland, Charles-Louis de Saules de Freycinet, Eugene Atget, Fondation Le Corbusier, François Kollar, Freycinet Plan, Louise-Catherine, Madeleine Zillhardt, Maria Louise Katharine Breslau, Parc André Citroën, Paul Poiret, péniche, péniche de débarquement, Seine, Union des Femmes de France, Winaretta Singer, Yvon | 11 Comments

Entresol

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Parisian Fields

Thinking about the chambres de bonne last month reminded me of another distinctive space found in many older Paris buildings – the entresol. It, too, provided a space where servants might sleep, unless it was being used for storage or … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture | Tagged André Kertesz, Being John Malkovich, Bœuf à la Mode, Charles Joseph Antoine Lansiaux, Club de l’Entresol, Colette, entresol, Eugene Atget, John Cusack, Jules-Hardouin Mansart, Opéra Garnier, Palais Royal, Passage Choiseul, Place Dauphine, Place des Victoires, rue de la Harpe, Rue de la Paix, rue des Petits Champs | 14 Comments

Chambre de bonne

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Parisian Fields

When I was a student in Paris, I lived in a chambre de bonne (maid’s room) at the top of a building on the corner of the rue du Ranelagh and the rue Raynouard in the 16th arrondissement. My room … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture | Tagged Bertall, chambre de bonne, chambre de service, double circulation, Edmond Texier, Jean-Maurice Lesage, L’Electricité dans la maison, Le Tableau de Paris, Louis Poyet, Lucie-Aline-Marie Lucet, Paris Roman d'une Ville, rue du Ranelagh, rue Raynouard, studette | 20 Comments

Rooftops

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Parisian Fields

One of our favourite TV programs, Dix Pour Cent/Call My Agent,* opens with the following image, taken either from the roof of the Louvre or from a drone. It is never on screen for more than a few seconds, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, Paris hospitals, Paris shops, Paris streets | Tagged Alexis-Hubert Jaillot, Call My Agent, Couvent des Feuillants, Dix Pour Cent, DTACC, Grands Magasins du Louvre, Hall des Tapis, Le Bon Coin, Maje, Matthaüs Merian, Oratoire du Louvre, Renaissance Paris République, rue de Marengo, rue de Rivoli, rue St-Honoré, Val de Grace | 34 Comments

A view of the pandemic (so far) in five masks

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Parisian Fields

To readers: please be advised that this blog contains no Paris content whatsoever. We will return to our regularly scheduled comments on Paris next month. Mid-March: homemade. The lockdown catches us by surprise. On Monday we are in the library, … Continue reading →

Posted in Toronto | Tagged Covid-19, masks, Matthew Larkin, pandemic, pandemic pesto, Toronto | 23 Comments

Far from the Madding Crowd

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Parisian Fields

Recently, the Financial Times posed the question: “Is now the right time to escape to the country?” The article contrasted “packed, polluted and pandemic-ridden cities” with the “space, greenery and lower prices” of the countryside. Now that people can leave … Continue reading →

Posted in Burgundy | Tagged Avallon, compagnonnage, Financial times, Hundred Years War, Patrice Roy, Raffl et Cie, Rudyard Kipling | 5 Comments

Places of healing

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Parisian Fields

As businesses and institutions in France begin to open up, cautiously, I find myself trying to imagine life in the city right now. Those thoughts start with the quartier we know best – the Observatoire. It’s a neighbourhood that I … Continue reading →