Showing posts with label Rue des Dames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rue des Dames. Show all posts

January 17, 2008

Hundred (or more) years ago

Now and then I like to compare illustrations from Paris in the past with Paris today and I have concentrated on the streets around where I live, in the Batignolles area, 17th arrdt. Here are two more of such comparisons.
This first one is based on a postcard, probably from the very beginning of last century, of Rue Legendre close to where it crosses Avenue de Clichy. The vehicles used for public transportation have changed… and a few other things, but a lot remains as it was. You can see that the building which partly was visible on the extreme right has been replaced by a modern building and the idea from the city architect was then obviously to make space for a wider street one day. It will probably take quite some time before the street can be made wider. The second comparison is based on a drawing, which probably is from 1870-1880(?), of the crossing of Rue Lemercier and Rue des Dames. There was then obviously a store owned by someone with an English name, but I have not managed to find any trace of this “H. Didsbury” store, today replaced by an “Ultra Kitch” shop. I imagine that if someone finds my photo in some 120 or 130 years, he or she will not find any trace of the “Ultra Kitsch” shop. … and of the buildings?
Especially for the attention of some possible more local blog visitors, I put in a map to show “where”.