This bustling street of 10my The Parisian neighborhood owes its name to its proximity to the Place de la République, which until 1879 was called “Place du Château-d’Eau”. The new name of the street, given in 1851, then made it possible to join the streets Neuve-Saint-Nicolas and Neuve-Saint-Jean. The traces of this old Paris of the 19th centurymy century are still visible today.
From number 3, at this strange angle at the beginning of the rue du Château-d’Eau, rises the monumental labor exchange, installed here in 1892. Overcoming the large entrance doors of the building, three women’s heads surrounded by motifs vegetables: the allegories of Work, Peace and the Republic. Inside, under the glass of the magnificent Ambroise-Croizat room (which you can ask to see), all made of wood and iron, engraved with the names of the trades, gunsmiths, engravers, tailors, beaters, the workers of the lemonade. each other, waiting to be hired.
Linked to the labor movement, the stock market progressively became the center of Parisian unionism, which it still is. Since the end of the 19th centurymy century, this “village house” imagine in “incandescent hearth from which the revolutionary lightning will burst forth that will unleash the roaring storm over the head of the bourgeoisie”. At its feet, the old café Les Parigots also experienced great moments of social struggle. For a long time it was also called Le Café des syndicats. Artists, writers and intellectuals were also there, in a happy mix. Today, a young team of waiters run the place, but the leather banquettes, pretty wooden tables and red and white checkered napkins give the brasserie a taste of timelessness.
Recently installed at number 9, the engineers from the Michel Bancon design studio, specialized in conservation and restoration of ancient heritage, never tire of admiring the old buildings of this picturesque rue du Château-d’Eau. Behind the sandblasted glass window, only attentive passersby notice the silhouettes of the Beautiful models of the main monuments of Paris. There is no doubt that the smallest house in the capital, which is located at number 39, must please you greatly.
We do not know very well how this construction was designed or for what purpose, but the narrowness of this microarchitecture remains fascinating: barely 1.40 meters wide and 3 meters deep, that is, a ground floor flanked by an almost tiny floor. . It appears to have blocked a passage between the two adjacent buildings. Old photos of the street attest to this: the store was occupied for a long time by successive shoemakers, among them, in 1906, one named J. Richard who promised on his facade to work “fast and good, without acid”. Today they sell shirts and jackets there.
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