Another Charles Garnier building

When walking from the Cour du Commerce Saint André and Cour Rohan (see my two preceding posts), along Boulevard Saint Germain in the direction of the church Saint Germain des Prés (or the cafés Les Deux Magots and Flore etc…) you can find a building created by Charles Garnier,

… who of course is particularly known as the architect of Opéra Garnier (see my post August 2, 2007). This is a very much more modest building.

Actually, Charles had some difficulties to find new jobs after the Paris opera house, much criticized those days, much praised later, and he had to wait two years after finishing the opera to get this job in 1877.

However, he then, later, also created the casino (Wikipedia photo), opera and Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the casino and the spa hotel in Vittel, a theatre in Paris (Marigny) and several other buildings.








He also created the tomb of Jacques Offenbach in 1880 (see my post April 24, 2007).











This building on Boulevard Saint Germain (no. 117), completed in 1879 is not one of the most well known among his creations, but is certainly worth having a look at. It was built for the “Le Cercle de la Librairie”, where all syndicates and professional associations representing the publishing and editing industry met until 1979. Today, after some interior modifications, the building houses L’Ecole Nationale du Patrimoine (the National School of Patrimony) which should give a good guarantee that the building will be kept in good shape.

It’s not open for visits, but I managed to get in - thanks to a tolerant door man - and to take a few pictures also of the interior stairs. I put the original pictures on my photo blog.

... and it's again time to wish you a nice weekend!