27.10.08

100 years ago... (again).

I already made a few comparisons of streets in my neighbourhood, about 100 years ago and today. It’s surprising to see the number of postcards that were produced those days. Here are some more examples. (See previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.)

To start with, some pictures from Rue des Dames and maybe a few words about this very old street (formerly rather a road) which led to the Benedictine “Abbey des Dames” which during some seven or eight centuries occupied most of Montmartre. Today remains only the modest 11th century church, St. Pierre de Montmartre (see previous post), with its small cemetery (du Calvaire) (see previous post), very close to Sacré Coeur. You can see how the street was cut by the 19th century Montmartre Cemetery (see previous posts). The street and most of the buildings as they look today are basically from the second half of the 19th century; this goes also for the pictures which will follow, all from the Batignolles area in the 17th arrondissement.

(Some local readers may be interested to have some more details of where these photos were taken and I have given such information on a list referring to the indicated numbers at the end of the post.)

Number 5 here is from Avenue de Clichy. We can see how horses still took care of most transports ... and there was a tram. Number 7 is the entrance to the private street Cité des Fleurs, full of flowers during the season (see previous posts). Number 9 and number 10 are the rail tracks connecting with Gare St. Lazare (see previous post). This was where the first Paris railway line (1837) passed. More tracks have been added with the time. The small station, Batignolles, has been demolished and replaced. In most cases trees are bigger now then 100 years ago, but this is not the case on number 11. In the background on number 12, we can see a building which remains from the Farmers’ General wall (see previous post), now an entrance to the nice Parc Monceau (see previous post). The front building on number 14 was a bath for women when the postcard was published ... not any more.

I don't know if it was nicer to live those days, but at least the streets looked cosier!


The list:
1. Rue des Dames, direction Rue Lévis.
2. Crossing Rue des Dames, Rue Boursault.
3. Rue des Dames, close to Rue Nollet.
4. Rue des Dames, close to Avenue de Clichy.
5. Avenue de Clichy, close to Rue La Condamine.
6. Crossing Avenue de Clichy, Rue Legendre.
7. Avenue de Clichy, entrance Cité des Fleurs.
8. Rue Cardinet, Square des Batignolles.
9. Crossing Rue de Rome, Rue Cardinet.
10. Along Rue de Rome.
11. Place Lévis.
12. Rue Legendre, direction Monceau.
13. Crossing Boulevard des Batignolles, Rue Lévis.
14. Crossing Boulevard des Batignolles, Rue des Batignolles.


30 comments:

EMNM said...

WOW!! very nice post, as you know i love this kind of pictures

Nice week Peter!

Cutie said...

Hmm.. looks like there isn't much changes after so many years. I guess they want to retain the history. But I find that No.12 during the olden days, the pedestrian road is so much wider. Looks really nice. UNlike today whereby all half of the pedestrian lane is taken up by the cars. Sigh....

SusuPetal said...

It's difficult nowadays to take city photos without cars, but maybe this is modern times....

Have a nice week, Peter!

Olivier said...

waouhh plein les yeux, et les avants/après sont superbes. tu remarques, il n'y avait pas de voitures avant, et c'était plus facile de faire des photos, les voitures sont vraiment la plaies pour les photographes.

"Paris je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime
Avec ivresse,
Comme une maîtresse !
....
Je peux te dire
Qu'avec ton sourire
Tu m'as pris l'âme
Ainsi qu'une femme
Tout en moi est à toi pour toujours
Paris je t'aime, oui ! d'amour ! "
Maurice Chevalier

alice said...

Quel travail de repérage puis de mise en page! Peut-être qu'à cette époque, on photographiait beaucoup les rues et les quartiers parce qu'on n'était pas encore blasé de la photographie, et aussi parce que les bâtiments étaient beaux, avec des frontons sculptés et des détails intéressants?
Bon lundi, Peter!

claude said...

Ah, Peter ! Quel post formidable !
J'aime beaucoup les anciennes carte postale et bien entendu celles de Paries. La comparaison avec maintenant est intéressante.
Je trouve qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup de changement.
J'ai une petite préférence pour l'ancien temps.
Bonne journée !

hpy said...

Pour répondre à ta question, c'est fait!

Adam said...

Wow, Peter, excellent work. Did you take the postcards out with you when you took the photos? It's really quite amazing how little everything has changed in that part of Paris.

Anonymous said...

How many people do you have working on this kind of post, Peter. It looks to be impossible to get around to all 14 places in one day.

Vagabondage said...

Bonjour Peter,

Sublime ton post.. J'aurai aimé photographier tout Paris à la belle époque!...

Aujourd'hui, la plaie des photographes les fils électriques et téléphones, les lampadaires, les panneaux de signalisations, feux rouges etc. etc... Quelle pollution.

Bonne journée à toi Peter…

Neva said...

What a nice walk in a different period of time....I am amazed that the buildings are still there....they look good and I amsure they had to be "modernized" at some point. Love the one with the horses and the clothing!
(BTW...the little dancer is actually my daughter when she was 4....she just turned 23 on Sat!..so far no granddkids...or significant others with my kids yet!!!)

Sharon said...

These are amazing comparisons. So much has changed over the years but, many things are also the same! These are fantastic.

Maxime said...

C'est un bel exploit, que d'avoir retrouvé tous ces points de vue !
Au fond, Paris n'a pas tant changé : l'asphalte a remplacé les pavés, les automobiles les fiacres, et les piétons semblent un peu moins tranquilles aujourd'hui. Mais la plupart des immeubles sont toujours là, comme les arbres d'alignement.

marie6 said...

The biggest difference is the presence of cars in the new photos, what a huge difference!

Ruth said...

Remarkable documentation once again! I wonder if the city planners would like to see this.

Cergie said...

Tu me bluffes !
Il faudrait que tu m'aides : j'ai retrouvé trois boîtes des cartes que ma tante a reçue durant toute sa vie. Je n'ai pas eu encore le courage de les regarder !

Virginia said...

Peter,
I gave my daughter a book called something like "Paris Then and Now" . I will have to check. What wonderful similarities there are now and then in Paris. In America, sadly there are not so many. I look forward to seeing Paris avec vous mon ami.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Beau travail.
Les rues étaient plus accueillantes mais la vie plus difficile et pour la plupart plus courte.
L'espérance de vie des parisiens n'était pas très élevée et bien plus faible que celle de leurs parents dans les campagnes.

Marie-Noyale said...

Tu as fait un superbe travail!!
C'est amusant je pensais qu'en 100ans les arbres auraient grandi plus que cela...ou des qu'ils sont un peu gros on les remplace par de plus jeunes!!

Thérèse said...

Quel témoignage Peter et quel travail!
Le tramway a vraiment ses charmes. Le temps qui passe lentement a également ses charmes.

Jessica said...

It's amazing how little has changed in so much time. Great job with the photos. Even the angles are identical!

PeterParis said...

matritensis:
I know, you often do the same thing!

cutie:
Yes, the streets look som much wider without cars!


susupetal:
Yes, sometimes I would like to do as when they make films ... remove all cars!

PeterParis said...

olivier:
Eh oui!

alice:
Je pense que tu as raison!

claude:
Je sais que tu es un peu nostlagique!

PeterParis said...

hpy:
Bien!!

adam:
Yes, I took te postcards and looked for from where they had been taken. Not easy all the time: Rue des Dames is long!

abraham:
I'm afraid I'm understaffed! :-) It took me an afternoon; it's not far from where I live.

PeterParis said...

mathilde:
Il faut vivre avec! A bientôt à Paris pour de photos!

neva:
Sorry about the misunderstanding! :-)

sharon:
Yes most of the 1850-1870 buidlings are still there ... but not all!

PeterParis said...

maxime:
Les pavés reviennent (importés de Chine)!

marie6:
At least I have no car anymore!

ruth:
Maybe? (I don't know them and they don't know mee.)

PeterParis said...

cergie:
Tu amènes ta boîte? :-)

virginia:
I'm also looking forward to it; some 19 days left!

deslilas:
Sans doute la vie n'était pas facile pour tout le monde. Après nous avons la question de longitivité et / ou la qualité de vie. Un grand sujet!

PeterParis said...

marie-noyale:
Je pense qu'il y a un peu des deux; c'est sur que beaucoup a été replanté!

therese:
C'est bien de ne pas toujours être pressé, d'être à la retraite!

jessica:
Yes, looking for the angles was sometimes difficult!

Kate said...

Peter,You do such amazing research on your blogs for our pleasure, and we appreciate it. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

non mais quel travail ! c'est incroyable ce que tu fais comme recherches. Tu vas devenir LE spécialiste de Paris. Tu étais architecte dans une vie antérieure ?