Plaque_James_McNeill_Whistler%2C_110_rue_du_Bac%2C_Paris_7

The Rue du Bac () is a street in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...

. The street, which is 1,150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

and Anatole-France and ends at the Rue de Sèvres.

Rue du Bac The Rue du Bac () is a street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The street, which is 1,150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Quai Voltaire, Voltaire and Quai Anatole-France, Anatole-France and ends at the Rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac ...

is also a station on line 12 of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

, although its entrance is actually located on the

Boulevard Raspail The Boulevard Raspail () is a boulevard of Paris, in France. Its orientation is north–south, and joins boulevard Saint-Germain with place Denfert-Rochereau whilst traversing 7th, 6th and 14th arrondissements. The boulevard intersects maj ...

at the point where it is joined by the Rue du Bac.

History

The Rue du Bac owes its name to a ferry (''bac'') established around 1550 on what is now the

Quai Voltaire The Quai Voltaire () is a street and quay located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. 308 meters long, it lies between the Quai Malaquais and the Quai Anatole-France. The Quai Voltaire begins at the Rue des Saints-Pères and ends at the Rue du Bac ...

, to transport stone blocks for the construction of the

Palais des Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was ...

. It crossed the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

at the site of today's

Pont Royal The Pont Royal is a bridge crossing the river Seine in Paris. It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after the Pont Neuf and the Pont Marie. Location The Pont Royal links the Rive Droite, Right Bank by the Pavillon de Flore with the Rive Gauche ...

, a bridge constructed during the reign of King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to replace the Pont Rouge built in 1632 by the financier Barbier. Originally, the street was named the Grand Chemin du Bac, then Ruelle du Bac and Grande Rue du Bac.

Notable buildings

Odd street numbers

* No. 1: Built by Auguste Rolin and C. La Horgue in 1882–83 * Nos. 8385: Former monastery of the Immaculate Conception built in 1637. It also occupied nos. 87 and 89 , onto which the garden extended. * No. 97: Hôtel de Ségur (also called Hôtel de Salm-Dyck). This house was built in 1722 for Pierre Henry Lemaître (also owner of the ), perhaps by . Some of the interior décor dates to that period. From 1786 to 1792 and from 1796 to 1798, it was occupied by

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

, who held a regular

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

here. * No. 101: Hôtel de La Feuillade

Even street numbers

* Nos. 24: The

Caisse des dépôts et consignations Caisse, a French word, may refer to: * Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec * Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team *Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Q ...

, the public financial institution created in 1816 to control financial affairs in the public's interest * No. 40: The door of this building opens on a perpendicular passage to the Rue du Bac. Inside the passage was the Hôtel Cochin where

Charles de Montalembert Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

lived. * No. 44: In 1932,

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

wrote a portion of ''Man's Fate'' here. * No. 46: The outside door has panels representing Prudence and Law, sculpted by Michel Varin. The original 18th-century interior had wood paneling adorned with work by the painters

Carle Van Loo Carle or Carlé is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Andrea Cosima Carle, whose stage name is Maggie Mae (1960–2021), German singer * Barbara Carle (born 1958), French-American poet, critic, translator and Italianist * David Ca ...

Jean-Baptiste Oudry Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Cha ...

and

Jean II Restout Jean Restout the Younger (26 March 16921 January 1768) was a French artist, who worked in painting and drawing. Although little remembered today, Restout was well-respected by his contemporaries for his religious compositions. Biography Restout w ...

. It was dispersed at the end of the 19th century. Some of its elements have been redisplayed at the

Musée Jacquemart-André The Musée Jacquemart-André (, ) is a private museum located at 158 Boulevard Haussmann in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris. The museum was created from the private home of Édouard André (art collector), Édouard An ...

, the Hôtel de Pontalba (

Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for it ...

) and the Castle of Vaux-le-Pénil (near

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

department). * No. 70: Building from the years 18301840 * No. 102: Hôtel de Sainte-Aldegonde, built in the first half of the 18th century * No. 104: This is where the artist, actress and draughtswoman

Sonia Mossé Sonia Mossé (27 August 1917 – 30 March 1943) was a Jewish French artist, actor, decorator, and draughtswoman who inspired many artists of her time. Close to the surrealist movement, she frequented the Éluard couple, Man Ray and many other ...

lived until her deportation in 1943. She exhibited her sculpture at the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in 1938. * No. 110: Across courtyard, studio and house constructed in 1812 for himself by

Pierre-Louis Baltard Pierre-Louis or Pierre Louis is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Pierre-Louis Bentabole (1756–1798), revolutionary Frenchman * Pierre-Louis Billaudèle (1796–1869), priest from, and educated in, Fran ...

, father of the architect

Victor Baltard Victor Baltard (; 9 June 180513 January 1874) was a French architect famed for work in Paris including designing Les Halles market and the Saint-Augustin church. Life Victor was born in Paris, son of architect Louis-Pierre Baltard and attended ...

. The ground floor of the house was occupied by

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

from 1892 to 1901. * Nos. 118120: Two hotels, separated by a

party wall A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, shared wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a wall shared by two adjoining properties. Typically, the builder lays the wall along a property line dividing two terraced h ...

, built between 1713 and 1715 by Claude Nicolas Lepas-Dubuisson for the

Missions étrangères de Paris The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

. The hotel at 120 is known as the Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre, named after the landlord who held the property at the end of the 18th century, and where

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

lived in 1838 and died in 1848. The doors representing the four corners of the world (the evangelical goal of the

) are probably the work of Jean-Baptiste Tureau. * No. 128:

, an evangelical

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

organization. The chapel was built between 1683 and 1689 by master mason Lepas-Dubuisson (father of the architect of 118120). * Nos. 136140: Older buildings constituting the convent Maison des Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (mother house of the

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (; abbreviated DC), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, is a society of apostolic life for women within the Catholic Church. ...

), including the

Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal The Chapel of Graces of the Miraculous Virgin () or informally the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine located in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the Marian title the ''Vi ...

, the burial place of Saint

Catherine Labouré Catherine Labouré, DC (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876) was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the ...

. This is the address where the character Mr Klein lived in the 1976 film '' Mr Klein''.

Destroyed buildings

* No. 84: Former entrance into the garden of the

Hôtel de Galliffet The Hôtel de Galliffet is a historic hôtel particulier in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The hotel was built from 1776 to 1792, for Alexandre de Galliffet, the President of the Parlement of Aix-en-Provence who also built the ...

, which has its main entrance at 73 ; marked by a massive porch that was torn down in 1837 * No. 86: Site of the former Hôtel Dillon

References

This article was drawn mainly from the French Wikipedia article.

Bibliography

* Bruno Pons et Anne Forray-Carlier (dir.), ''La Rue du Bac'', Paris, Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris, 1991 –

External links

*
Official nomenclature of Parisian streets
*

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bac, Rue du Streets in the 7th arrondissement of Paris