Challenge 7: Curious figures on the Avenue Daumesnil

Reader Karen was walking along the coulée verte, the disused railway line in the 12th arrondissement, and spotted a building that caught her attention. She sent me a picture, simply stating that she “would love to know more about this building”.

The building will probably be familiar to anyone who has taken the same walk as it certainly stands out in its prosaic residential surroundings. It would probably be one of the most photographed items on that particular walk, but just what is it, and what is the story behind it?

Despite looking vaguely art-deco in form, the structure was actually designed by architects Manolo Nunez-Yanowski and Miriam Teitelbaum in 1991, and houses the Commissariat de Police du 12ème arrondissement (the local police station).

Although the curves of the building are merely derivative, what makes it really noticeable are of course the sculptured human forms jutting out from the balconies on the top floor. Sometimes labelled caryatids in descriptions of the building, these are actually telamons or atlantes, as the figure is most definitely male! In fact, the figure is based on Michelangelo’s dying slave sculpture which can be found today in the Louvre.

Manolo Nunez-Yanowski is very much a postmodern architect, and unsurprisingly worked with Ricardo Bofill on several projects. Indeed, two of their most well-known creations can be seen alongside each other in the town of Noisy le Grand to the east of Paris. The Arènes de Picasso for Nunez-Yanowski  (sometimes known as the camembert), and Le Palacio for Bofill.

Nunez-Yanowski is something of a renaissance man, having studied history and archeology, then art, before finally qualifying as an architect, so it is perhaps no surprise that he should choose to feature sculptures by Michelangelo on this building. What is more of a surprise is that this building should be used as a police station. Indeed, the upper levels of the building incorporate apartments for police officers, with these – somewhat camp – figures acting as dividers between the balconies of these apartments.

The sculptures certainly do not give the building a very intimidating air, but then the intention probably was to make the commissariat seem more convivial. It is not known what the police officers who live and work here think about the building though!

Challenge me!
Seen something in Paris that has caught your eye but remains a mystery, or ever wondered about obscure people or events in the city's past? Challenge me to find the answers!

Paris Face Cachée - How to do it yourself

The Paris Face Cachée event was seemingly such a good idea that the bookings website crashed on day of launch, and all 10,000 places available were snapped up within 48 hours. However, those who were not able to book places (myself included) need not miss out, as many of the activities are available year round - if you know how to decipher the secrets! 

The Paris Face Cachée organisers wanted to keep each location a secret, to be revealed only to those who book tickets, but now it seems also to keep the disappointed away! However, whilst I will not write a list here of all of the locations, nor how you can visit them, if you are interested in any of the 'experiences', send me a mail and I will hopefully be able to give you more information on what is behind it, and how you can recreate the experience another time! 

Paris Face Cachée - celebrating the unseen side of the city

A new initiative in Paris aims to show both visitors and locals alike a hidden side of one of the most well-known cities in the world. 

Paris Face Cachée, a weekend long event being held on February 4th and 5th, is the result of a series of discussions between the city of Paris and an agency called À Suivre Productions. According to Sabrina Slimani, one of the event organisers, the initiative was almost a natural evolution from previous projects that they’d run together. “We have organised one-off events in so many fascinating places that it seemed a shame not to group them together somehow, and introduce them to the general public” she explained.

 

Over 50 activities (called experiences by the organisers) are planned in a wide range of unusual locations, nearly half of which half will be free. Partly in order to create a buzz, and partly to keep the curious away from certain sensitive sites before the event, all of the places remain a secret until you purchase (or reserve) a ticket.

According to Sabrina Slimani, the themes of the event almost suggested themselves. “After listing all the possible venues, we were quickly able to divide them into three themes; pénétrer l’interdit (enter the forbidden), expérimenter l’inedit (try something new), and rencontrer l’inconnu (encounter the unknown). The principal idea was to take people to places they would never be able to visit, or show them the hidden sides of the more well-known locations.”

So what will people be able to do during this weekend? Well, if they are interested in the forbidden, they can visit the printing plant of a newspaper, the control centre for the city’s traffic lights, or enter a bunker under one of the principal railway stations in the capital. For those looking for new experiences, there are tours of cemeteries and artists’ studios, and people seeking the unknown can meet up under a motorway flyover or in secret parts of the Metro system.

Is Paris Face Cachée a one-off, or the start of a new annual event? For Sabrina Slimani, the desire is there to make it a regular rendez-vous, and the city certainly does not lack potential sites. “This year there were many places where, for one reason or another, we couldn’t organise activities, so we have enough venues already for at least another year” she said.

Of course, the lifespan of the event will also depend on how successful it is this year, but already places are disappearing quickly. If you don’t want to take the risk of missing out, hurry up and book your places soon!

Reservations for all events can be made on the official website: http://www.parisfacecachee.fr/participer

 

Photos: Top, ©Pierre Meitivier, middle, ©Eau de Paris, bottom, ©Emilie Vialet

Travellers not welcome in chic 16th

It's little more than a wasteland, a concrete patch between the end of a garden and the beginning of a car park, and yet it has become the scene of a bitter dispute. The Socialist-run city council wants to situate a permanent site for the travelling community (mostly Romani people) here, but local residents - traditionally supporters of parties to the right - don't like the idea one little bit!

In comments written following online news reports, it was interesting to read - among the standard claims that such installations would increase crime rates in the area - the contribution of one local contributor who stated that they had paid high market rates to live in this district in order to avoid such social necessities. The battle being fought here therefore is to discover whether or not wealth in Paris still buys such privileges.

Speaking on behalf of the city of Paris, Olga Trostiansky, stated that the creation of facilities for  travellers is obligatory in all major towns and cities, and that in 2004 it was decided that space for 200 families would be made available in the city. The question remains where such facilities should be situated though. Not in my district has replied Claude Goasguen, the mayor of the 16th arrondissement, who has even launched a petition on his website.

After reading of these disputes, I decided to visit the location myself. Was it a deliberate and petty attempt to rile Socialist opponents in the area, or could it really be a serious proposition?

The site, at the end of the Square de l'Amiral-Bruix, opposite the Palais de Congrès, and in the vicinity of the prestigious Avenue Foch, offers little of interest. It is difficult to imagine 10 caravans here, let alone 200, although the site could potentially be expanded. What is noticeable, in comparison to more densely populated parts of the city, is that there is no real sense of community here. On one side is the busy périphérique motorway, and on the other an anonymous boulevard, principally housing smart office blocks. There is little in the way of housing, no schools or shops, and it is certainly not a place where local residents would choose to gather.

In essence, it is a lost space that serves no purpose at all, although it could be said that it provides a visual and aural buffer from the motorway. Cars are parked on the road alongside, but even these are not ordinary cars, with the majority displaying diplomatic vehicle registration plates. Nobody is here, not even a dog, and it retains the atmosphere that the plot must have had when it formed part of the fortif, the city's 19th century enceinte de Thiers protective barrier. Clearly it is a space in need of some kind of renaissance, and I see no reason why it couldn't be put it into use for the proposed purpose, albeit on a relatively small scale.

In reality, this facility has little chance of ever being created in this spot. With the city of Paris also including in its boundaries the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the likelihood is that a suitable site for travellers will be found in one of these two locations - and conveniently far from any potential voters.

Disappearing Levallois: The Rue Marjolin

Few places around Paris have seen as much demolition and construction as Levallois in recent years. The previously working-class town, considered once to be suitably welcoming by arch-revolutionary Louise Michel (who also chose to be buried in the town), and also under the control of Communist mayor Parfait Jans (once a taxi driver) until 1983, is now reinventing itself as a bourgeois dormitory town with the identity of a dreary pastiche ville nouvelle.

For a once radical town, opposition to this ripping out of its own heart seems surprisingly muted. The factories that once employed people in their thousands were pulled down several years ago, but now the local authorities seem intent on removing all traces of this industrial era, notably by demolishing the buildings that housed these workers. Nowhere is this more evident than on a stretch of the Rue Marjolin, where a dozen or so buildings are scheduled to be pulled down this year.

The buildings themselves may not be of the highest quality, but they also have an identity that clearly does not fit into the new town model. Compulsory purchase orders have been slapped on all properties in this stretch of the street, but apparently at rates that are below the market level in the town, meaning that property owners here will need to look outside of Levallois to purchase something of a similar size.

The local authorities say that the new structures that will take their place will be majoritarily social housing, and that they need to undertake this development in order to meet a 20% target for such housing in the town, but is this the most judicious way to work with urban areas such as this one? Estimates suggest that the operation will cost around €20 million, with around half that sum earmarked for the purchasing of properties and their demolition, but surely renovation would have been more economically and environmentally sensible?

Beyond the elimination of the town's previous identity, there are clearly human dramas being played out here too. One of the buildings in this strip is a small townhouse, built at the time of the town's birth in 1850, and one of the only remaining social links back to this era. Inside lives an 87 year old lady, a resistant who was deported to Germany during the Second World War, before later finding shelter back in Levallois. "This house may be modest" says a sign outside, "but many would love to live here". This lady simply wants to remain in a town where her husband is buried, but at current market rates it seems that this will be unlikely.

"A society that forgets and disowns its past and history, and which does not respect its elders, is a society without a future" says another sign outside the house. This is seemingly the only protest in this street, and a message falling on very deaf ears. Each building in the strip is different, each has its own size, shape and features, but all will surely be replaced by one block of fake marble blandness, the standard model today mushrooming across the town.

This was clearly once at the heart of the old town, a narrow street of cheap lodgings and commerces de bouche. Only one of these - a rusting and crumbling butchers shop - is still visible, but its fascinating facade is surely simply destined only for the incinerator.

Levallois is a town without a museum, and seemingly also a place that feels no need to display any traces of its past. It's the classic tale of the nouveau riche with a deep feeling of shame about its unprosperous ancestors.

But as the streets are scrubbed clean, and smooth, shiny, soulless buildings replace the lived in with their ragged facades and generations of simple histories, what will the town gain? Surely anything but an identity.