Paris1972-Versailles2003

The recent put up for sale of a hôtel particulier or mansion built in 1640 in Ïle Saint Louis of Paris for 3,7M€ with the groupe Coldwell Banker Europa Realty ,let me to write this post, It will be on my black and white series as pictures here are rare , the island is residential. The sale is really rare as not usual to see properties sold here, they go by heritage or big spenders…

The Île Saint-Louis is an island located on the Seine river, in the heart of Paris, in the 4éme arrondissement, in the Notre-Dame neighborhood or quartier no 16 of Paris. The Île Saint-Louis since 1725 the current name from King Louis IX, aka Saint Louis, patron Saint and ancestor of Louis XIII. According to legend, he used to come to pray on the former Île aux Vaches and would have taken the cross there with his knights in 1269 before leaving for the Eighth Crusade (an expedition which was to be fatal to him: Louis IX died of dysentery under the walls of Tunis a year later). The island has an area of ​​11 ha. It takes the form of a parallelogram of 525 meters on its long side and 250 meters on its short side, Its greatest diagonal point is from place Louis-Aragon to square Barye, reaching a little over 700 meters.

Before 1860, (Baron Haussmann came after) Île Saint-Louis was part of the former 9éme arrondissement of Paris and alone formed the former neighborhood of Île-Saint-Louis. Under the French revolution, it was one of the 48 Parisian revolutionary sections baptized section de la Fraternité (fraternity), The Île Saint-Louis is connected to the rest of the arrondissement on the right bank of the river by three bridges, plus a fourth which connects it to the Île de la Cité, and to the 5éme arrondissement, on the left bank, by two other bridges. Before its urbanization, the current site of Île Saint-Louis was called Île Notre-Dame. It was given by King Charles the Bald to the Bishop of Paris in 867. The canons of Notre-Dame regained ownership shortly after. The island is connected to the left bank of the river by a footbridge at the site of the current Pont de Tournelle bridge, In the 13C, when Paris was fortified by the enclosure of Philippe Auguste, a channel cut the island in two current, then uninhabited, in the extension of the surrounding walls. The western part (roughly two-thirds) was called Île Notre-Dame, and the eastern section is Île aux Vaches.

Ile aux Vaches was an uninhabited island mostly covered with meadows. It was reunited with Île Notre-Dame located immediately downstream at the end of the 17C, during the urban operation which helped to form the current Île Saint-Louis. Despite opposition from the canons of Notre Dame, the island has been inhabited and covered with houses since around 1640, and town planning operations continued for about thirty years until the mid-17C. The street plan adopts a checkerboard shape where the traffic lanes intersect at right angles. The island is structured by the rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île, its main artery, which runs through practically its entire length from east to west.

The Île Saint-Louis also saw the construction of a large number of private mansions, which made it nicknamed “the island of palaces”. A certain number of these hotels were the work of the architect Louis Le Vau (who settled there with his family in 1639) and his brother François Le Vau (also settled on the island). The latter drew up the plans for the Saint-Louis-en-l’Île Church, built in 1644, the interior decoration of this sober baroque church, consecrated in 1726 in honor of King Louis IX, paintings by masters and paintings. murals, a magnificent organ with 3,500 pipes, stained-glass windows and stucco sculptures, It is at 19 bis, rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île, worth the detour.

The Hôtel Lambert mansion, located at 2, rue Saint-Louis en île,is one of the most beautiful private mansions on the island, the Rothschild family owned since the 1950s and was sold to Abdallah Ben Abdallah-Al-Thani, of the princely family of Qatar. The Hôtel Lambert mansion, is located near the upstream point of the island, along the Quai d’Anjou, and was created by the architect Louis Le Vau. The large apartment on the first floor overlooking the courtyard overlooks the garden, because of the elevation of it. The decor of the three cabinets, known as Love, Muses and Baths, created by Le Sueur, as well as that of the large gallery by Le Brun, made this hotel famous from its inception.

The Hôtel de Lauzun, located at 17, quai d’Anjou, where Charles Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier founded the Club de Hachischins, a group dedicated to drug experimentation. From the nobility of the Empire, Baron Jérôme Pichon bought the building in the 1840s. The building was divided into apartments rented in particular to writers including Théophile Gautier, Roger de Beauvoir and Charles Baudelaire from 1843 to 1845. Charles Baudelaire wrote there the first poems of his work Les Fleurs du Mal.

Others are the Hôtel Aubert-Perrot; the Hôtel de Chenizot; the Hôtel Comans-Richelieu; the Hôtel de Gontaut-Biron; the Hôtel Le Charron; Hôtel Lefebure de la Malmaison ; the Hôtel Lefèvre de la Barre; the Hôtel Le Vau; the Hôtel Sainctot ; the Hôtel of Pierre Viole; the Hôtel Potart; the maison Gruyn de Bordes ; ; the Pavillon de Bretonvilliers, only one pavilion has been preserved visible at the end of the rue de Bretonvilliers, its porch open to traffic connects the rue Saint Louis en île to the quai de Béthune.

Also, several bridges were built to connect the island to the rest of Paris ; these were : the Pont Marie completed in 1635, the bridge owes its name to the engineer-entrepreneur Christophe Marie who built it from 1614 to 1635. This bridge dates from the 16C, which makes it one of the oldest bridges in Paris. Built to follow the urbanization of Île Saint-Louis, its construction spanned 20 years, from 1614 until 1635, The Pont de la Tournelle built in 1656. The link between Île Saint-Louis and Île de la Cité, inaugurated around 1630, collapsed several times and was rebuilt six times over the following centuries, The Pont Louis-Philippe linked the island to the right bank in 1862, The Louis-Philippe bridge via the rue Jean du Bellay, It was on July 29, 1833, to celebrate his accession to the throne at the end of the Three Glorious Years, that Louis-Philippe laid the first stone of a suspension bridge that was initially anonymous, located in the extension of the rue du Pont Louis Philippe,. The bridge crosses the Seine at an angle to the Quai aux Fleurs via Île Saint-Louis. It was opened to traffic a year later, on July 26, 1834. After the revolution of 1848 during which it was set on fire, it was restored and baptized “Pont de la Réforme” until 1852. To cope with the increase trafic ,it was destroyed to be replaced by the current bridge in 1860. The Pont Louis-Philippe was therefore inaugurated in April 1862. Each of the 4 meters piers posed in the Seine is adorned with a crown of stone foliage which surrounds a metal rosette. The only modification it has received since then was to replace the stone guardrails, which were badly damaged by bad weather, in 1995. The Pont Sully was built to the east of the island in 1876 to replace two footbridges.The bridge to the right bank begins at Quai Henri-IV and ends at Quai d’Anjou, and the one to the left bank begins at Quai de Béthune to emerge on the Saint-Bernard and Tournelle quays. In the 19C, the two distinct parts of this bridge were called Passerelle Damiette on the right bank side and Passerelle de Constantine on the left bank side. These were two suspended walkways , the first will be destroyed during the revolution of 1848, the other (built between 1636 and 1638) will collapse following the corrosion of its cables in 1872. The current bridge was built in 1876, in the context of the great works of Baron Haussmann , and inaugurated on August 25, 1877. Its name honors Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, Minister of Henri IV. The pont Saint-Louis, the last avatar of the footbridges between the two islands, was inaugurated in 1970.

The Île Saint-Louis is surrounded by four quays, each roughly delimiting a quarter of the island: Quai d’Anjou (right bank of the island, from Pont Sully to Pont Marie); Quai de Bourbon (right bank, from Pont Marie to Pointe Avale and Pont Saint-Louis). Quai d´Orléans (left bank, from Pont Saint-Louis to Pont de la Tournelle), The Quai d´Orléans name in homage to Gaston d´Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIII. It measures 275 meters. It was built from 1614 to 1646. At No 6,there is the Polish Library which has occupied, since 1853, a beautiful listed building from the 17C which belongs to the Polish Historical and Literary Society. Created in 1832 by migrants from the Russian occupier’s brutal repression of a Polish uprising. The Quai de Béthune (left bank, from Pont de la Tournelle to Pont Sully). This quay was built from 1614 to 1646. In the 18C, this quay was called quai des balconies because the architect Le Vau had proposed that all houses on Île Saint-Louis on the banks of the Seine are adorned with beautiful balconies, hence the name. The current name was given to it in 1806. It is the name of the minister of Henri IV, Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully., A curiosity, the number of buildings begins at number 12. This must be due to the fact that the former Hôtel de Bretonvilliers occupied the space between this number and the Pont de Sully before being demolished. It is bordered by many old hotels. It runs along the large arm of the Seine.

The Ïle Saint Louis is crossed in its middle by the rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île, the only traffic lane that runs parallel to the Seine (with the exception of the quays). The other roads on the island are all perpendicular to rue Saint-Louis-en-Île, with the exception of boulevard Henri-IV. The Boulevard Henri-IV, which continues between the two parts of the Pont de Sully; rue de Bretonvilliers, between quai de Béthune and rue Saint-Louis-en-Île; rue Poulletier, between Quai de Béthune and Quai d’Anjou; the rue des Deux-Ponts, between the Pont de la Tournelle and the Pont Marie; rue Budé, between the quai d´Orléans and the rue Saint-Louis-en-Île, the rue Le Regrattier, between the quai d´Orléans and the quai de Bourbon; rue Boutarel, between quai d´Orléans and rue Saint-Louis-en-Île; rue Jean-du-Bellay, between the Saint-Louis bridge and the Pont Louis-Philippe . Place Louis-Aragon is located on the downstream tip of the island, beyond the Quai de Bourbon.

Île Saint-Louis is not directly served by any metro line. The closest stations are those of Pont Marie and Sully – Morland, on line 7, on the right bank of the Seine. Bus line 67 crosses the island from north to south along Rue des Deux-Ponts and has a stop located roughly in the middle of the island. On Boulevard Henri-IV, lines 86 and 87 have a stop in both directions, between the two parts of Pont Sully. Either the start of the Quai d’Orléans can be reached by crossing the Pont Louis-Philippe which can be reached from the Pont-Marie metro station of line 7 or from the bus stop of 67. The eastern end of the island is served by the Sully-Morland metro station line 7. Bus lines 86 and 87 have a stop near Square Barye.

The Berthillon glacier, (ices) is located at 29/31, rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île. This family-run establishment, founded in 1954, is considered one of the best ice cream parlors in the world. Although the flavors have multiplied, the recipe has been the same for more than half a century: the House’s ice creams and sorbets are concocted with natural products, without preservatives or sweeteners. Other things to see are the Île-Saint-Louis theater, located on Quai d’Anjou, offers a small Italian-style room and programs contemporary creations and concerts. The L’Île aux Images gallery, located on Rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île, offers collection photographs and original lithographs from the period. The Librarie Ulysse bookstore, located rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, is the first in the world to specialize in countries and travel in 1971.

The Paris tourist office on walks in the ïle Saint Louis : https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/walks-in-paris/discovering-the-islands-of-paris

The Paris tourist office on the Ïle Saint Louis : https://en.parisinfo.com/transport/110546/Ile-Saint-Louis

There you go folks , a wonderful spot for walks amongst beautiful architecture and history of Paris. This is grand, one of the reasons to see Paris, even if folks prefer the other island of Notre Dame Cathedral. The Ïle Saint Louis is gloriously beautiful; worth the detour. Hope you enjoy the post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!