Category Archives: Paris history

The Zone

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Parisian Fields

Our visits to Paris always begin and end with a trip through the outskirts of Paris. The train or taxi from the airport travels through residential and industrial suburbs, passing warehouses, high-rise hotels, office buildings, and large sports facilities. Beside … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris automotive, Paris civic functions, Paris history, Paris hospitals | Tagged Adolph Thiers, bibliothèque historique de la ville de paris, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, Donald Pittenger, Enceinte de Thiers, Eugène Poubelle, Eugene Atget, flea markets, fortifications, Franco-Prussian War, habitations à bon marché, HBM, Laurent Baziller, Paris Commune, Paris wall, Périphérique, Porte de Reuilly, portes de Paris, Saint-Mandé, zone non aedificandi, Zoniers | 7 Comments

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 | 23 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

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 | 38 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 →

Posted in Paris history, Paris hospitals | Tagged American Hospital in Neuilly, Cochin Hospital, Hôpital Laënnec, Hôpital Lariboisière, Hôpital St-Louis, Hôpital St-Vincent-de-Paul, Hôtel-Dieu, Hertford British Hospital, Jean-Martin Charcot, La Pitié–Salpetrière, Necker children's hospital, Port Royal maternity hospital, Sigmund Freud, Stanley Loomis, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue hospital, Val de Grace | 5 Comments

Empty streets

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Parisian Fields

Birdsong. That’s what I hear these days when I wake up. Not the sounds of neighbours going to work or getting the kids ready for school. But the sound of robins and sparrows and starlings. I hope our friends in … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, Paris streets | Tagged A. Cayeux, Charles Marville, dégagement, Edouard-Denis Baldus, Eugene Atget, F. Nobécourt, Jean-Jacques Berger, Louis Daguerre, Patrice Roy, Sabrina Lynn Hughes, Société Héliographique, Tour St. Jacques | 8 Comments

Petite Ceinture: Ring around the city

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Parisian Fields

About 10 years ago, Norman and I were staying in part of a converted workshop in a courtyard in the 14th arrondissement. One day, as we walked towards the Porte de Vanves on a Saturday morning to visit the flea market, … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris bridges, Paris history, Paris maps, Paris travel | Tagged 1867 Exposition, Gare d'Austerlitz, Gare de l’Est, Gare du Nord, Garigliano bridge, Grande Ceinture, Menilmontant, Montrouge station, Ornano station, Passy station, Patrice Rambaud, Petite Ceinture, Point du Jour, Recyclerie, Thiers enceinte | 9 Comments

Early one morning

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Parisian Fields

We do not, as a rule, take early-morning walks in Paris. If we do not have a morning appointment, we tend to dawdle over breakfast, reading and chatting and enjoying the view from the windows. Quick showers are not an … Continue reading →