Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbev ...
, Paris's
business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
Courbevoie
Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Pa ...
and Nanterre. The inhabitants of Puteaux are called ''Putéoliens'' in French.
History
In 1148 Abbot Suger, the chief minister of kings Louis VI and Louis VII, established a landed estate named ''Putiauz'', which went on to become a village of the same name. Suger also founded other settlements in the area, such as
Carrières-sur-Seine
Carrières-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
The inhabitants of the town of Carrières-sur-Seine are called ''Carrillons'' (masculine plural) or ''Carrillonnes'' (feminine ...
,
Vaucresson
Vaucresson () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the Hauts-de-Seine department from the center of Paris.
Vaucresson contains abundant parkland; 22 of its 308 hectares are classed as natural zones. Today Vaucresson i ...
, anc Villeneuve-la-Garenne, with the aim of attracting people into the region. This was reinforced by certain privileges which Suger granted to the inhabitants.
The name ''Putiauz'' is likely to have come from the old French ''Putel'', meaning a "quagmire" or "swamp", making reference to the condition of the area before it was drained for agriculture. But in another explanation, the name of Puteaux comes from the Latin word ''puteoli'', the plural of ''puteolus'', meaning "little wells" or "water holes". The spelling "Puteaux" is believed to have been first used in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.
Legend has it that Puteaux inspired the story of the gadfly by Jean de La Fontaine.
Geography
Located on the left bank of the river Seine, Puteaux borders
Courbevoie
Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Pa ...
to the north, Nanterre to the west and Suresnes to the south. In the east, Puteaux is connected to Paris by the bridge of Puteaux near Neuilly and by the bridge of Neuilly (which is also used by Paris Métro Line 1). The territory of the commune of Puteaux also includes the largest part of the Île de Puteaux, on the Seine.
Districts
Within Puteaux several districts can be distinguished.
The district ''Bas de Puteaux'', located between the railway line and the Seine, is the oldest urbanized district. Notable in particular are the old church, the Théâtre des Hauts-de-Seine, the town hall and a commercial
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...
near the rues Jaurès, Eichenberger and Chantecoq. The town hall was built in 1934 and is a typical example of the architecture of this time. The boulevard Richard Wallace is the '' Champs-Élysées'' of Puteaux.
The district ''Haut de Puteaux'', located to the west of the railway line, is a more recent district, made of several residences and
HLM
An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies.
HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.Marcellin Berthelot, Bernard Palissy) The Lorilleux residence, for example, was built on the site of the old ink manufacturing companies.
The district ''La Défense'' is located in the north, separated by the circular boulevard. The district, developed since the end of the 1950s, is one of the principal
business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
s in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. It mainly consists of
office building
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...
s, but some notable dwellings can be found within the district as well ( Tour Défense 2000, résidence Boieldieu). Two thirds of the territory of La Défense is located within Puteaux, the remainder being divided between Courbevoie and Nanterre. Thus, the
CNIT
The Centre of New Industries and Technologies ( French: Centre des nouvelles industries et technologies, abbreviated CNIT), located in Puteaux, France, is the first building ever to be developed in La Défense, west of Paris, France. It function ...
, the Arche de la Défense and the Quatre Temps shopping mall are in Puteaux.
The district ''Île de Puteaux'', on which there are no dwellings besides some barges, shelters the sporting structures (tennis courts, footballpitch, gymnasium, swimming pool) of Puteaux. A sporting complex, the ''Palais des sports'', opened in July 2006.
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbev ...
Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Sea
The Ministry of Ecological Transition (French: ''Ministère de la Transition écologique''), commonly just referred to as Ministry of Ecology, is a department of the Government of France. It is responsible for preparing and implementing the gov ...
.
Economy
The tax revenue of La Défense makes Puteaux one of the richest communes of France. Puteaux receives forty million euros per year coming from the companies within the district alone. Puteaux does not have a debt and its financial reserves, placed in Treasury bills, returns ten million euros in interest alone. The budget of Puteaux can thus exceed 200 million euros (reference 2005), for only 42,000 inhabitants.
Puteaux has a long industrial past, in particular the car industry ( De Dion-Bouton, but also
Unic
Unic was a French manufacturer founded in 1905, and active as an automobile producer until July 1938. After this the company continued to produce commercial vehicles, retaining its independence for a further fourteen years before being purcha ...
Daimler-Benz
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...
Atelier de Construction de Puteaux The Atelier de Construction de Puteaux (APX) (English translation: "Puteaux Construction Workshops") was a state arsenal belonging to the French Army. It was located at 8, quai national in Puteaux.
History
Atelier de Construction de Puteaux was ...
(APX), inks () and
perfume
Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent ...
s (
Coty
Coty may refer to:
*Coty, Inc., an American beauty products manufacturer
*Coty Award, the Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (1943-1984) by Coty, Inc.
*COTY, abbreviation for Car of the Year awards
People
* François Coty (1874–1934), perfum ...
).
Politics
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud (25 June 1925 – 18 July 2019) was a French lawyer and politician. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1995, and the Senate from 1995 to 2004, representing Hauts-de-Seine. He was the author of a ...
(
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...
, UMP) was the mayor of Puteaux from 1969 to 2004. In 2004 he was succeeded by his daughter Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud (UMP). She was also temporarily appointed as a Member of Parliament for the 6th district of Hauts-de-Seine (Puteaux/ Neuilly-sur-Seine) instead of
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
.
The administration of Puteaux by Ceccaldi-Raynaud is considered authoritarian by certain people (the opposition but sometimes also certain people of their own political camp in Hauts-de-Seine). This criticism regularly has echoes in the media (like the daily newspapers '' Libération'', ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', the edition of Hauts-de-Seine of '' Le Parisien'' and the news magazine '' L'Express'', which made a coverstory of it at the end of 2005).
In September 2005, Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud announced his intention to become mayor again, instead of his daughter. However, his daughter refused to resign. A lot of fixing was needed, in particular in the
Municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
(reported in a dispatch of the AFP of November 21, 2005).
Ernest Francillon
Ernest Francillon (born 10 July 1834 in Lausanne), was the Swiss manager of Longines watches and an entrepreneur. He was the nephew of Auguste Agassiz. He died on 3 April 1900 in Saint-Imier
Saint-Imier () is a municipality in the Jura be ...
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud (25 June 1925 – 18 July 2019) was a French lawyer and politician. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1995, and the Senate from 1995 to 2004, representing Hauts-de-Seine. He was the author of a ...
Transilien La Défense
Transilien Line U, also known as "La Défense - La Verrière" or more often simply "ligne U", is a tangential commuter train link, which serves the western Paris region from La Défense. It links the Paris's business district of La Défense to ...
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbev ...
, as well as by La Défense station, a large interchange station on Paris Métro Line 1, on Paris RER line A, on the Transilien La Défense suburban rail line, and on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.
Puteaux is also served by the T2 (tramway 2), in the La Défense-Issy-Val de Seine line.
Sport
The Cercle de Puteaux hosted the
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
Puteaux is the setting for the 1961 film '' The Long Absence'' (''Une aussi longue absence''), winner of the Palme d'Or at
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...