Villa Auguste Blanqui

The 13th arrondissement is to a rather large extent full of more or less modern buildings, not always what many of us would consider as the utmost in architecture. The arrondissement is however also the most street-art-friendly of the 20 Paris arrondissements and many buildings are, at least in my mind, “saved” thanks to the decoration of previously naked facades. We could see some examples in a recent preceding post. But… there are also some “îlots”, small “islands” where a different atmosphere can be found. Here is an example, Villa Auguste Blanqui. “Villa” is often used in Paris for small mostly dead-end (cul-de-sac) streets. Auguste Blanqui (1805-81) was a French socialist and activist, quite radical for his time – he spent half of his life in prison.

Here are some examples to show what the little street, the “villa”, looks like.