Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
Boulevard des Italiens gained its name from the Italian theatre there in
1783. This name was changed more than once in subsequent years. After
the Revolution, when the Royalists who had taken refuge beyond the
German Rhine returned to Paris and held meetings on this boulevard, it
was nicknamed “Le Petit Coblentz.” No. 33 (eighteenth century) is the
Pavillon de Hanovre, forming part in past times of the hôtel d’Antin,
which had been owned in its later days by Richelieu, then was divided
into several dwellings, and in the time of the Merveilleuses one of
these sub-divisions of the fine old mansion became a dancing saloon,
_bal_ Richelieu, and the meeting-place of the Incroyables. Rue du
Helder, which we see opening at No. 36, was in those days a cul-de-sac,
i.e. a blind alley. The bank there (No. 7) was erewhile the famous
cabaret “le Lion d’Or,” and at No. 2 Cavaignac was arrested when
Napoléon made his _coup d’état_. No. 22 of the boulevard was the
far-famed “Tortoni.” No. 20, rebuilt in 1839, now a post office, is the
ancient hôtel Stainville, later Maison Dorée. No. 16, till a year or two
ago Café Riche, dating from 1791. No. 15, hôtel de Lévis, was once the
Jockey Club. On the site of No. 13 stood till recent years the famous
Café Anglais. At No. 11 was the club “Salon des Italiens” in the time of
Louis XVI, subsequently the restaurant Nicolle and Café du Grand Balcon,
its first story commonly known as Salon des Princes. At No. 9 Grétry
lived from 1795 till his death, which happened at Montmorency in 1813.
No. 1 Café Cardinal founded by Dangest (eighteenth century).
Boulevard Montmartre dates from the seventeenth century, lined in olden
days on both sides by handsome private mansions; we see it now a
thoroughly commercial thoroughfare, one of the busiest in the city. A
modern journalist called its _carrefour_--the point where it meets the
Rue du Faubourg Montmartre--“_carrefour des écrasés_.” From the house,
now a newspaper office, at No. 22 an underground passage ran in past
days to the Café Cardinal opposite, leading to an orangery. On the site
of No. 23 stood the gambling-house Frascati, built on the site of the
old hôtel Taillepied. The Café Véron at No. 13 dates from 1818, opened
through the gardens of the hôtel Montmorency-Luxembourg. Passage
Jouffroy at No. 10 was cut, in 1846, across the site of an ancient
building known as the Maison des Grands Artistes. The théâtre des
Variétés, at No. 7, first set up at the Palais-Royal in 1770 by “la
Montansier,” was built here in 1807 on the grounds of the hôtel
Montmorency-Luxembourg. No. 1 is the site of the Café de la Porte
Montmartre, founded by Louis XV, a meeting-place of Parisians hailing
from Orléans, nicknamed Guépins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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