Rue Didot and around

Rue Didot is a quite « normal » street in the 14th arrondissment. What is also normal in this arrondissement is that, looking to the right or the left, you will find a number of small streets and  alleys… Rue Didot crosses also “La Petite Ceinture” (the “Little Belt” – see previous posts here) which also here soon will be made into a nice walking space.

All the little side streets and alleys are covered with cobblestones, even being renewed.

It’s obvious that many of the buildings have been workshops, some have been, or are, artist studios…

… like this – modern – one. Looking through the front windows I could see Winston Churchill in a plaster cast version. It became obvious that this must be the studio of Jean Cardot. You can find the statue of Winston close to the Petit Palais (see here and here). Cardot is also the one who e.g. made the statue of Charles de Gaulle, in front of the Grand Palais (see here) and of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honour (see here).

Wikipedia states that a building in another little alley should have been the place where another sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi, made the first version of the Statue of Liberty. This seems more than doubtful… the years, nothing corresponds. Well, I have talked about this statue a number of times (see e.g. here and here)

Well, there are some flowers around also.

Someone found and uses an Italian mail box.

Here are a few more, general, views from the different small streets and alleys - Villa Collet, Villa Deshayes, Villa Duthy, Villa Jamot, Villa Mallebay, Rue Ledion…

One of the nice little houses was once the home of a leading WWII resistant, Raymond Losserand, who was caught and shot by the occupants in 1942. His wife, Louise, was also captured and was deported to Auschwitz, later to Ravensbrück and Mauthausen. She survived. There is now a Rue Raymond-Losserand in Paris and also a little Place Louise-Losserand.

In the southern part of Rue Didot there used to be some industrial and hospital buildings, now partly transformed to more social and even some artistic activities - the Red Cross is also present.