The One-Two-Two was one of the most luxurious and illustrious

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s of Paris in the 1930s and 1940s. The name was taken from the address, 122

Rue de Provence The Rue de Provence is a street in the 8th and 9th arrondissements of Paris. It begins at the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre and ends at the Rue de Rome. Only the short part of the street between the Rue du Havre and the Rue de Rome is in the 8th ar ...

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' (). The ar ...

. The numbers were translated into English to ensure that foreign tourists would be able to find the brothel and as a password for French people. Opened in 1924, the "One-Two-Two" closed its doors in 1946 when the prohibited brothels in France. The building is now used for business and law offices.

Operation

The building had twenty-two decorated rooms. Forty to sixty-five prostitutes worked for 300 clients per day. It was open from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am and the sub-mistresses filtered the men at the entrance. The girls of the establishment had to have four sex-sessions a day at twenty francs each, excluding tips, and two sessions on Sundays. There was also a bar, a refectory for the girls, and a doctor's office.https://www.clippcity.com/article/insolite/le-one-two-two-la-maison-close-preferee-des-celebrites# There was also a restaurant, the ''Boeuf à la Ficelle'' ("beef on a string," named after a recipe of roast beef filet dipped in a broth of vegetables and spices on the end of a string). The waitresses wore only high-heeled shoes and a

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

in their hair. Guests were welcome for dinner and coffee and to smoke a cigar in a living room afterwards. They could chat with girls without the obligation to go further.

German occupation

The establishment was not affected by

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

. Otto Brandl, one of the main officers of the

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

in France after September 1940, was involved in the Parisian

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

. He and captain Wilhelm Radecke ran their black market operations from the One-Two-Two. After the

Liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...

by the allies, Fabienne traded with the Americans. She wrote that there were very good people, but also racists. She didn't accept that one guy wanted to hit a girl because she was black.

"The journey around the world"

Each room had its own women, highlighted on pedestals, with fitting outfits and lighting. The rooms were decorated like théatrical scenes of many periods and countries of the world. Some guests practiced "the journey around the world", which consisted of adopting positions inspired by the

Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; , , ; ) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kamasutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions ...

, in the rooms of different countries, thereby making a world tour of erotic pleasures. The main rooms were: * The transatlantic steamer cabin, with sea view, porthole,

deck chair Deck may refer to: A level or platform Buildings and structures *Deck (bridge), the roadway surface of a bridge *Deck (building), an outdoor floor attached to a building made of wood or wood-like material *Another name for a storey *The concrete ...

. * The pirate room, which included a

four-poster bed __NOTOC__ A four-poster bed or tester bed is a Bed (furniture), bed with four vertical columns, one in each corner, that support a tester, or upper (usually rectangular) panel. This tester or panel will often have rails to allow curtains to be ...

that would mechanically swing like a boat in a tempest whilst jets of water, hidden in the walls, would drench the occupants for the ultimate experience in leaky boat sex. * The

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, w ...

room, an exact replica of a cabin in the famous train. This included the shaking and bouncing effect of being on a train and included a railway soundtrack. As an option, you could demand an intrusive conductor to enter the room and join in the festivities. * The hay loft, with real straw. * The igloo room. * The

tipi A tipi or tepee ( ) is a conical lodge tent that is distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at the top of the structure, and historically made of animal hides or pelts or, in more recent generations, of canvas stretched on ...

of the Indians of America. * The Provençal room. * The country room. * The Egyptian chamber in the style of

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

. * The Roman chamber with the orgy ambience of

triclinium A ''triclinium'' (: ''triclinia'') is a formal dining room in a Ancient Rome, Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek language, Greek ()—from (), "three", and (), a sort of couch, or rather chaise longue. Each couch was sized to ...

. * The Greek chamber with antique columns. * The Renaissance room with the

courtesans A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

of King

Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...

. * The mirrored gallery, like a small version of the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

with huge swiveling mirrors. The rooms on the upper floors were devoted to

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

pleasures. As Fabienne Jamet said: "The closer one got to the sky, the closer one got to Hell.": * The torture chamber of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, with shackles, chains and whips. * The torture room with crucifixion staging, where handcuffs replace the nails to tie the victim to the cross.

References

Bibliography

* Fabienne Jamet, ''One Two Two – 122 rue de Provence'', Olivier Orban, 1975.
Editions Galerie Au Bonheur du Jour , Décors de bordels, Nicole Canet
''Entre Intimité et Exubérance, Paris-Province 1860–1946'', Ed. Nicole Canet, 2011

Filmography

* '' One, Two, Two : 122, rue de Provence'' is a 1978 French film directed by Christian Gion. The film chronicles the eventful daily life of the establishment.

External links

* - Includes interior photographs * * {{prostitution in France, state=collapsed 1924 establishments in France 1946 disestablishments in France brothels in Paris buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris history of Paris hôtels particuliers in Paris Joachim Murat