Passy (Paris Métro)

Passy () is an above-ground station on Line 6 of the Paris Métro in the 16th arrondissement.

The station and its approaches have notable views, as it is built on a viaduct that abuts the slope of the 25 meter high Chaillot hill just below its crest.  Eastbound trains exit the station onto the Pont de Bir-Hakim bridge over the Seine. Westbound trains enter a tunnel under the hill. The Rue Marietta-Alboni runs under the viaduct from the Seine to the foot of the slope, where it becomes two parallel sets of pedestrian stairways to the hilltop, whence the Rue resumes. The station is entered from the stairways. An upward-moving escalator parallels the northern stairway.

The metro and the stairways bisect the Square Alboni, a chic residential subdivision on the hillside whose properties were assembled and developed between 1894 and 1930. Named, like the Rue, after a famous opera contralto of the day, the Square has several buildings designed by Louis Dauvergne, with the others intended to harmonize. The buildings around the Square and the (private) park in its center, are not much visible from the platform, but can be seen from the stairways and the streets. Dauvergne also designed Les Grands Hotels du Trocadéro, the now-iconic turreted buildings on both sides of the Rue Marietta-Alboni above and below the hillside. They were built as hotels for visitors to the 1900 International Exposition and afterwards rented as apartments.soniabrancarosoff, “La colline de Passy. La rue de l’Alboni,” ''Passage du Temps'' ebsite 11 décembre 2021.

History

The station opened on 6 November 1903, when the branch of Line 1 from Étoile to Trocadéro that had serviced the 1900 Exposition was extended southward to this new, temporary terminus and renamed Line 2 Sud. On 24 April 1906, Line 2 Sud was extended across the Seine and the southern districts of Paris to Place d'Italie. (In 1907, the line from Etoile to Place d’Italie was incorporated into Line 5; in 1942 it was incorporated into Line 6.)

The Rue Marietta-Alboni has a width of only 15 meters (including sidewalks), as compared to the 40 meter width of the Boulevards Exterieurs over which the other elevated sections of Lines 2 and 6 were built. The land for the Rue was given to the city by the subdivision developers in 1893.

The station was named after the nearby Quai de Passy, a riverside stretch of the road from Paris to Versailles that during the ancien régime ran near the village of Passy, located on the hilltop above the station. The Quai de Passy was renamed Avenue du President Kennedy in 1964.

Passenger services

Access

The station has two accesses from Rue Marietta-Alboni, on either side of the station, each divided into two adjoining entrances:
* access 1 - ''Place du Costa Rica, Maison de Balzac - Musée Georges Clemenceau'', equipped with an ascending escalator complemented by fixed stairs to the road, located on the north-east side of the station to the right of Square Alboni;
* access 2 - ''Avenue du Président Kennedy, Maison de la Radio - Musée du Vin'' located on the south-west side, near the Consulate General of Algeria.

A corridor passing under the station connects these two accesses to each other.

Station layout

Platforms

Passy is a station of standard configuration. It has two platforms separated by the metro tracks. It has the particularity of being underground at its western end and elevated at the other end, because of the slope of the terrain. The ceiling of the first consists of a metal deck whose beams, silver in colour, are supported by vertical walls, while the rest of the platforms is sheltered by awnings supported by grey pillars. The bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the walls (the elevated part is also covered with bricks drawing geometric patterns on the outside) and the north-west tunnel exit, the opposite tunnel exit being glazed. The advertising frames are made of white ceramic and the name of the station is inscribed in Parisine font on enamelled plaques, projecting on the elevated side. The seats are yellow ''Motte'' style and lighting is provided by independent tubes. Access is mid-platform.

Bus connections

The station is served by lines 32 and 72 of the RATP Bus Network.

Nearby

The area is a quiet, well-heeled residential neighborhood, not heavily touristed.

The Pont de Bir-Hakeim (formerly the Pont de Passy) is a road, pedestrian, and metro bridge across the Seine completed in 1906 primarily to carry the metro. In 1986 it was classified an historical monument. Opposite is the Grenelle district in the 15th arrondissement. The Île aux Cygnes midway in the Seine can be accessed by foot from the bridge.

The Parc de Passy, a public park opened in 2004 on the site of a cleared neighborhood, is 200 meters to the southwest.

The Maison de Balzac, a museum honoring the writer in a house he lived in during the 1840s, is 500 meters to the southwest.

The Maison de la Radio et de la Musique (formerly ''Maison de Radio France)'' is about 750 meters to the southwest.

The Musée Clemenceau, the apartment and garden of the French statesman, is 200 meters to the north.

The Palais de Chaillot and the Jardins du Trocadéro, opposite the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, are about 550 meters to the northeast.

Among the nearby buildings are the Majestic Passy cinema, and the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague high school.

Gallery

19940817a Passy.jpg, MP 73 rolling stock with green faces prior his renovation at Passy in 1994
Metro Paris - Ligne 6 - station Passy 04.jpg, Line 6 platforms at Passy
Metro Paris - Ligne 6 - Station Passy - Viaduc.jpg, View from Passy towards Passy Viaduct and Bir-Hakeim station.
MP 73 ligne 6 Passy 03.ogg, MP 73 rolling stock on Line 6 at Passy
MP 73 ligne 6 Passy 02.ogg, MP 73 rolling stock on Line 6 at Passy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passy (Paris Metro)
Paris Métro stations in the 16th arrondissement of Paris
Railway stations in France opened in 1903
Articles containing video clips