The building you see below, just behind Palais Royal, was constructed around 1780 with, for those days, some exceptional 9 stores. Inside there is a double-helix staircase, meaning that each level can be reached by using one or the other of the superimposed stairs. This was obviously helpful as it seems that then some more or less legal activities took place here and there was a chance to escape one way hoping that the police was using the other one. This is not an issue today, but the double-helix staircase is fortunately still there. 
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16 comments:
A most forbidding and austere-looking building ... suitable for the law.
Gorgeous work. Breathtaking.
S'enfuir par un escalier pendant que la police monte par l'autre...c'est une histoire pour les Marx Brothers !
I love the stairs! Circular stairs are so dramatic!
I used to work right next to this, and never noticed it! It looks a little bit like its been stretched really!
Wow, Peter! You know my attraction to circular stairs and to see double-helix right at the corner of my beloved Palais-Royal... wow! I must go there on my next visit.
Bises,
Genie
Excellent pictures. I'm new to Paris and am looking forward to discovering it's beauty.
Il y a du Arsène Lupin dans l'air.
Comme c'est amusant. On en découvre tous les jours.
I thought you meant a 'real' hi-rise building...like Tour Montparnasse.
Just looking at that staircase photo makes me dizzy! It really is a great photo.
Ta première photo - une merveille !
Really like the stairs...quite a tall building for those times!
there is a helix staircase inside the Qutub Minar in India too, A tower built by the slave dynasty when they ruled India!
Fantastic perspective on top! I'm dizzy now... :-)
WEll that top photo is TRÈS BELLE!!! Reminds me of a smaller staircase in the Marais last summer that we both shot. Mine were all blurry. Quelle dommage. I want to see this "skyscraper" next trip. Most of all, I want to see Paris again.
V
Wow! The first photo are stunning, Peter!
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