Plaque_James_McNeill_Whistler%2C_110_rue_du_Bac%2C_Paris_7

Rue du Bac is a street in Paris situated in the 7th arrondissement. The street, which is 1150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Voltaire and

Anatole-France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Special:WhatLinks ...

and ends at the

rue de Sèvres ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

. Rue du Bac is also the name of a station on line 12 of the Paris Métro, although its entrance is actually located on the

boulevard Raspail 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 major roadw ...

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

History

Rue du Bac owes its name to a ferry (''bac'') established around 1550 on what is now the quai Voltaire, to transport stone blocks for the construction of the Palais des Tuileries. It crossed the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...

at the site of today's Pont Royal, bridge constructed under the reign of Louis XIV to replace the Pont Rouge built in 1632 by the financier Barbier. Originally, the street was named Grand Chemin du Bac, then Ruelle du Bac and Grande Rue du Bac.

Buildings of note

Odd street numbers

* 1 : Built by Auguste Rolin and C. La Horgue in 1882-1883 * 8385 : Former monastery of the Immaculate Conception built in 1637. It also occupied numbers 87 and 89 , onto which the garden extended. * 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 venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

here. * 101 : Hôtel de La Feuillade

Even street numbers

* 24 : The

Caisse des dépôts et consignations The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC; ) is a French public sector financial institution created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament. Often described as the "investment arm" of the French ...

, the public financial institution created in 1816 to control financial affairs in the public's interest * 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 lived. * 44 : In 1932, André Malraux wrote a portion of ''Man's Fate'' here. * 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, Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Jean II Restout. It was dispersed at the end of the 19th century. Some of its elements have been redisplayed at the musée Jacquemart-André, 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 ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its blu ...

) and the castle of Vaux-le-Pénil (near Melun in Seine-et-Marne department). * 70 : Building from the years 18301840 * 102 : Hôtel de Sainte-Aldegonde, built in the first half of the 18th century * 104 : This is where the artist, actress and draughtswoman Sonia Mossé lived until her deportation in 1943. She exhibited her sculpure at the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in 1938. * 110 : Across courtyard, studio and house constructed in 1812 for himself by Pierre-Louis Baltard, father of the architect Victor Baltard. 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 active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

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

party wall A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder ...

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

Missions étrangères de Paris The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons ...

. The hotel at 120 is known as the Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre, the name of the landlord who held the property at the end of the 18th century, and where François-René de Chateaubriand 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 Jean-Baptiste is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was King o ...

. * 128 :

, an evangelical Catholic organization : The chapel was built between 1683 and 1689 by master mason Lepas-Dubuisson (father of the architect of 118120). * 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 ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

), including the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, the burial place of St. Catherine Labouré. This is the address where the character Mr Klein lived in the 1976 film '' Mr Klein''.

Destroyed buildings

* 84 : Former entrance into the garden of the Hôtel de Galliffet, which has its main entrance at 73 ; marked by a massive porch that was torn down in 1837 * 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