The Other Side of Belleville

In my last article I described some of the hidden cités and row houses that impart an almost-countryside feel to Belleville. This time we explore the other side where the streets and a park trace the line of ancient streams and disused quarries.

We start at the Métro station Jourdain on Line 11, at the heart of the old village and opposite the parish church. Although Belleville as we know it is a creation of the 19th century, there was a farm around here right back in 862, and a proper hamlet first appears in records of 1451 when it was called Poitronville. Industrialization led to rapid growth after the Napoleonic Wars and by 1860, when Belleville was incorporated into the city of Paris, it was the 13th largest town in France with a population of 70,000.

The present church of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Belleville occupies the site of an earlier chapel built in 1543 but itself dates from the 19th century. It is built in the neo-Gothic style popularized by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (he who restored Notre Dame at that time) so it’s not surprising to discover the architect was one of Viollet-le-Duc’s students. Inside, the vaulted roof soars and when the sun is shining in the right place, colored light from the stained glass windows floods the interior.

From the church, walk down the short Rue du Jourdain to the Rue des Pyrenées and take the Rue de la Mare on the left. Mare means “pond” and is a reminder of the springs and ponds of this elevated area that were harnessed from the Middle Ages onwards. The street is interrupted by the Place Henri Krasucki, a lively meeting place edged with small cafés, the same kind of cafés where Edith Piaf started her career. It might not look it, but Belleville is an off-center of Paris nightlife, both along its main roads the Rue des Pyrénées and Rue de Belleville, but also in its side streets where tiny theaters, arts centers, cafes and bars attract a mainly local crowd of young people.

Four streets fan out from the Place; take the first of them to your right, the Rue des Envierges. The bottom end is lined with not very interesting modern apartment buildings but as you approach the top end, a sense of Belleville’s eclectic charm starts to take over. Artists still live in Belleville, not yet squeezed out by rising rents, and one or two small galleries sell local work. These are nothing like the smart galleries of the sixth arrondissement and the end of May each year sees a weekend of “open doors” where artists invite the public to their ateliers to see their work.

Towards the end of the street you will find a puppet theater and at the top is Le Vieux Belleville – a restaurant that styles itself a traditional musette and is famed for its chanson singalongs. You don’t need to know the lyrics – song sheets are provided – but everyone is expected to participate, no shrinking violets allowed. And, of course, it is all in French. 

Across the road is another Belleville institution: the restaurant Moncoeur Belleville. Grab an outside table if you can for the view over Paris. The belvedere across the road offers the best in Paris – even better than Sacré Coeur because, here, you have an unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. You get a true sense of how high up you are, and how Paris sits in a saucer surrounded by hills. Even on the hottest day a breeze refreshes the air.

Directly below, the Parc de Belleville falls away. Once upon a time this was a royal domain where vines were cultivated, until industrial expansion in the 19th century, especially gypsum quarrying, turned it into a polluted and insalubrious neighborhood. After slum clearances in the 1960s and ’70s, the steep slope was transformed into a series of terraced gardens. Opened in 1988, the park and its trees have now matured and on summer Sundays it is crowded with picnickers and sunbathers, not to mention the singers and rappers in the open air performance space. And vines are once again cultivated!

If you have walked around the park, make your way back to the belvedere and take the right hand street, the Rue du Transvaal, named after the South African Boer republic and dating the street to the 1890s. Spot the Villa Castel at no. 16. This is another cité of private houses and gardens; scenes from François Truffaut’s film Jules et Jim were filmed here.

Follow the street to the Rue des Couronnes which will take you back to the Place Henri Krasucki and this time, take the Rue des Cascades. This is another street name that harks back to Belleville’s watery past. Way back in the 12th century monks from local priories collected rainwater for their own use. By the 18th century, a complex system of interconnected aqueducts transported it down the hill to give a lucky minority relatively fresh water (most Parisians still relied on the Seine and a few private wells, all polluted). To protect the aqueducts small stone huts called regards were built and three still exist. At no. 40 Rue des Cascades stands the Regard Saint Martin. The street opposite, Rue de Savies, recalls the original ninth-century farm in the area and its paved road and low buildings evoke old Belleville. But instead take the steps alongside the regard which lead up to the Rue de l’Ermitage. 

One of Belleville’s claims to fame is its street art and while the Rue Denoyez is the best-known collection of art, the truth is it is everywhere. And the Rue de l’Ermitage is full of it, sometimes quirky but often political, affirming the district’s history as a hotbed of radical politics. Belleville was the birthplace of the 1871 Paris Commune and even today, posters and mural art abound denouncing repressive regimes, unjust wars and supporting leftwing causes and human rights activists. A cultural space further down the street is named after the anarchist feminist Commune leader Louise Michel.

Halfway down the Rue de l’Ermitage is the Villa de l’Ermitage, yet another verdant enclave of small houses and artists’ studios. On a hot August evening it is almost silent save for the distant cooing of pigeons. Retracing your steps to the bottom of the Rue de l’Ermitage brings you out on the Rue de Ménilmontant. The boundary between Belleville and Ménilmontant is fluid; both are proud of their working class histories and heroes (if Belleville has Edith Piaf, Ménilmontant has Maurice Chevalier). But walk up the hill to the junction with the Rue des Pyrénées and you come to an aberration, a building that appears to have no place among the humble, still rather shabby shops and restaurants. 

This is the Maison du Carré Baudouin. It is the last remaining folie standing in Paris. Folies (from which we get the term folly for a structure with no practical use) were popular with the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeois who wanted a country residence away from the noise and dirt of Paris. This one was inherited by Nicolas Carré de Baudouin, a servant of the King, who around 1777 added the Palladian-inspired facade with a pediment and columns. After his death it passed into the hands of the Goncourt family and the two renowned writers Jules and Edmond de Goncourt spent some of their childhood there. From 1836 it became an orphanage run by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul for children who had lost their parents to cholera. They remained there until 1992, in later years turning the building into a health center and lodgings for young people. Since 2003 the Ville de Paris has managed it as an arts and cultural center. It has survived remarkably well, perhaps because of its long ownership by the nuns.

And here we end this stroll around Belleville, a district that is still trying to defy gentrification and hold on to its proud working class past. From Rue des Pyrénees you can take the no. 26 bus route towards the Gare Saint Lazare or the Place de la Nation, with Métro stops along the way.