Paris1972-Versailles2003

I come back with another memorable street of my eternal Paris. I am amazed of the material in my vault of so many years hanging around my belle France. And ,again, found me some new older pictures to help me update this older post on a street spent many times on it. Let me tell you a bit on the Avenue de New York of Paris !! Hope you enjoy it as I

The Avenue de New-York located in part on the quartier de la Muette no 62, and the quartier de Chaillot no 64 ,neighborhoods of the 16éme arrondissement or district of Paris. Its one of my fav avenue and is served by metro line 9 at Alma and Iéna stations some distance away and by the RATP bus line 72 stop at the Musée d’Art moderne – Palais de Tokyo. It is named after the city of New York in the United States.  A street I take several times by car coming from Versailles and entering Paris by the Porte Saint Cloud, the D910 or (D10 opposite is the Avenue de Paris in Versailles!) Continuing onto Ave de Versailles, and the crossing the Seine at places like the Pont Mirabeau ; Pont de Grenelle, Pont de Bir-Hakeim , Pont d’Iéna, and passing passarelle Delbilly, and the Pont de l´Alma. (see posts), This is part of the old Royal road from the Palace of Versailles to the Fortress of the Louvre.

A bit of history I like

The Avenue de New York has been named successively quai des Bonshommes because it bordered the convent of Bonshommes, then quai de la Conférence, quai de Chaillot and quai de la Savonnerie ,  because it ran alongside the Savonnerie soap factory established at the location of the current Palais de Tokyo in 1631 and transferred in 1825 to the Gobelins district, it took the name of quai de Billy and quai Debilly in 1807. In 1918, the quai Debilly was renamed avenue de Tokio, named after the capital of Japan whose spelling Tokio was the norm at the beginning of the century. Then on February 26, 1945, by decree, the avenue de Tokio took the name of Avenue de New-York. Recall that Japan was an ally of France during the Great War (WWI) , however, during WWII, this same Japan was the ally of Nazi Germany so replaced the capital of the enemy country with the city of New York from the United States who had just liberated France!. In addition, in 1964, the Quai de Passy, which extends the avenue de New-York downstream of the Seine, took the name avenue du Président-Kennedy which also refers to the United States. The palace of Tokyo, built for the 1937 Exposition, kept its name with its new spelling after 1945.

A bit on the configuration of this avenue and surroundings is useful to know from a historical and architectural basis me think

The Quai de Chaillot then Debilly stretched between the old Conference barrier, at the end of Cours la Reine, the fiscal limit for the rights for taxes of Paris from the mid-18C to the Passy barrier opened in 1788 in the wall of the Farmers General. From this date, the quay is included in the city of Paris with the whole of the old village of Chaillot up to the quay of Passy, current Avenue du Président-Kennedy, which was on the territory of the town of Passy until its annexation by the city of Paris in 1860 downstream of the Passy barrier, which was removed at that time. The part between rue de la Manutention and avenue Albert-de-Mun remains a little-built space until the middle of the 19C where a large Cail locomotive construction factory was set up, destroyed by a fire in 1865 which was not rebuilt. The land between avenue d’Iéna and the quay which belonged to the City of Paris in 1877 was then sold and subdivided with an easement limiting the height of the buildings on the quay of No 32 to 42 to 14.30 meters to preserve the view at the rear of the buildings on avenue d’Iéna. From Avenue Albert de Mun to rue Le Nôtre, the quay runs alongside a space that was part of the Visitation de Chaillot convent until 1790. Land sold as national property after 1790, purchased by the State from 1811 to 1813 for the abandoned project of the Palace of the King of Rome and sat   vacant until the Trocadero gardens were laid out in 1878. From rue Le Nôtre to rue Beethoven, the quay ran alongside the Couvent des Minimes or Bonshommes domain, at the bottom of which was built in 1788 the wall granting tax rights the corner of rue de la Montagne, now rue Beethoven, where was established the barrier of Passy, beyond the location of the current rue Le Nôtre to then follow, in the space of the current Trocadéro gardens,perpendicular to the Seine river to the top of the hill of Chaillot. The wall was destroyed in 1860 and the land sold to the City of Paris which levelled it and then subdivided it in 1877 to create the rue Chardin and rue Le Nôtre, the southern part of the Trocadéro gardens and allow the construction of buildings on the quay at nos. 60 to 66, the existing ones dating from 1925 and the 1950s.

The Avenue de New York   was crossed from 1855 by the American railroad, the first urban tramway line in France whose vehicles were towed by horses, which linked the Place de la Concorde to the Pont de Sèvres, then extended until Versailles. The Avenue de New York is not continuously bordered by a low quay because the passage between the relatively narrow Port Debilly and the upstream Port de la Conferénce is interrupted under the Pont de l’Alma bridge. The Avenue de New York has two central level tracks with underground passages at the mouth of the bridges but also pedestrian crossings. This busy road, which does not however have a highway/motorway character on this section, is part of the Georges-Pompidou river banks connection road. The avenue has side streets with heavy traffic including fairly narrow bus-bicycle lanes and also narrow sidewalks, the one on the river side comprising a narrow one-way cycle path which cyclists can access, after a section of rue Le Nôtre at rue Beethoven and a crossing at the pedestrian crossing at this level, to the two-way cycle path that runs along the Voie Georges-Pompidou on the low quay or port de Passy to the limit of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Nice buildings I like here are the No 4: home of Ambassador Pamela Harriman (USA but born in London), while she is in a relationship with the businessman Giovanni Agnelli (FIAT). It shows the presence of a History of Paris sign reminiscent of Chaillot’s fire pump. At No 10: home of landscape architects father and son Henri Duchêne and Achille Duchêne and of the latter’s wife, feminist and peace activist Gabrielle Duchêne. No 32: French Federation of Motor Sports. And No 34: Mona Bismarck now American Arts Center, where the American socialite Mona Bismarck lived. French-American Foundation, Many events visits here by yours truly.( see post).

The Paris tourist office on the 16éme district: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/arrondissements-paris/a-la-decouverte-du-16e-arrondissement-de-paris

There you go folks, a wonderful avenue de Newy York in my eternal Paris. Again, hope you enjoy the walk in the Avenue de New York as I.

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