Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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At the end of the work day, we decided it was time to visit Parc André Citroën – another glorious green space designed, in part, by Gilles Clément. We started with a stroll down avenue Félix Faure, finally veering off to the right through the Square Jean Cocteau and the romantic rue Modigliani. That is such a lovely way to approach a beautiful park! Rue Modigliani is only for pedestrians, and it is nothing more than a shady lane – a garden, really – between apartment buildings. The trees are mature and the vegetation is dense enough that people walking there feel that they’ve found someplace special, away from the noise and rush of city life. I think the corner of Parc André Citroën that you find first when you enter from this leafy lane is perhaps not part of the original factory site. The Citroën automobile factory was entered through gates, and those gates have been replaced by park gates. Yet you can still see how vehicles entered and exited that vast industrial terrain. The designers of the park have taken care to preserve those basic bones of the old site. (Below, one of the streets that led into the old Citroën factory.)
So after going through a couple of gardens in that southern reach of the park, we were then at one of the real entrances to the old factory site. We paused to read an expository plaque. The plaque has been updated, because it notes that the park was expanded in 2013. We learn from the plaque that the first factory on the site was for making bleach – eau de Javel – which was invented in this area. André Citroën opened a munitions factory on the site in 1915. When peace returned, he turned it into an automobile factory, which finally closed in 1974. The park was opened in 1992. The enlargement of the park in 2013 consists mainly of an area off to its southwest side. This is a space for games, including skittles (photo below).
We walked along the southwest side of the park until we reached the corner up near the Seine, where we rested on a couple of the funky, curvy wooden benches that seem to be unique to this park. When rested, we moved on, crossing the big open space in the middle of the park to reach the gardens along the northeast side. There are a few ways to walk through and experience these gardens. We did them all. The gardens are doing very well in this park, as are the trees, which are maturing beautifully. What is not faring so well is the infrastructure, such as all the concrete and wooden walkways and waterways. I think the park puts its infrastructure maintenance money into the dancing waters fountain that all the children play in when the weather is hot. That is clearly the priority. Other fountains, pools, “canals,” and “rapids” are empty of water, because they have problems that are not yet fixed. The public bathrooms for women are not usable. There is no toilet paper. That isn’t because the city cannot afford toilet paper; it is because they can’t afford to have enough maintenance staff to supply and clean up the bathrooms. Tant pis This is the first real evidence I’ve seen of economic trouble in Paris. Clearly, there have been cutbacks in the city’s park maintenance budget. New green spaces (such as the petite ceinture greenbelt) are being planned to be as low-maintenance as possible. “Starchitecture” is out; practical, easy-to-maintain landscape architecture is in. Our route out of the park was almost as much fun as the route into it. We navigated to the rue du Pic de Barette and the rue André Lefebvre – a pedestrianized route back up to the middle of the 15th arrondissement (photo below).
Just before we crossed the grand rue de la Convention, we entered the church of Saint-Cristophe-de-Javel. This is a “modern” church which opened in 1930. So it is made with reinforced concrete, not stone, for the major structural elements. There had been an earlier, wooden chapel on the site, but it was destroyed by fire in 1890. The architect, Charles Henri Besnard, made use of the reinforced concrete construction techniques that had been developed several years earlier. But this is supposedly the first church to be constructed this way. This church is known for its choirs. Here you can hear them perform at Notre Dame d’Auteuil, in the 16th arrondissement. And I found this lovely video of images of the Saint Christophe de Javel Church, set to Ave Maria. Beautiful. The church has spectacular modern stained glass windows. Yesterday was the best opportunity we’ve had yet for visiting this church. So I took plenty of photos (no flash, of course). In the peace and calm of this church, I knew that the world is in good hands. When we left the church, we were feeling thankful, for everything. Onward, toward home, we strolled up the graceful avenue Émile Zola. By the time we approached the bakery on our street, we were somewhat footsore. Tom entered the tiny space and bought a fresh-from-the-oven baguette de tradition. When we were home, we realized we had so many nice things to eat – brebis cheese from the fromagerie, cherries, nuts, and more. We dined at home, on the balcony, gazing out at a stunning, marbled evening sky and a cityscape right out of the movie Ratatouille. Ahhh.
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Friday, August 1, 2014
Rue
Modigliani.
Gardens
of Parc André Citroën.
The Eglise Saint-Christophe-de-Javel.
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