Amazing little house, that I found off rue Corentin Cariou in the 19th arrondissement. After some research on the Web I found out it's not at all a house, but the former Pont de Flandre train station that once belonged to the "small belt", a train track ring that would run around Paris and was closed to passengers in 1934. I read that they are going to renovate it... but it seems there is still a long way to go! Here is a little video, from another angle.
so happy to hear they will renovate this little house!
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of Les Triplettes de Bellville!
ReplyDeleteWhat an odd assortment of grafitti - and I wish I knew why gorillas were chosen! Is the name at the top of the station original - it's oddly placed as well - or more grafitti? And who is that who painted the gorilla hands??!! (Don't they sort of look like spider webs, too?) So many questions!
ReplyDeleteI love the photo, btw - a spooky, nightmare image obscuring the very normal planes and angles of the building to the right.
Ahem...."graffiti". Oops.
ReplyDeleteYep, it does need a little renovation work. I'm surprised that it is still standing. I wonder what they will do with it as it is so close to train tracks?
ReplyDeleteKris
Maybe it would make a fun bistro. I am glad someone wants to save it. Old train stations had so much history, ghosts and spirits still wander through, I am sure. Someone could make a movie, "Pont de Flandre Je t'Aime". Start out with the gorilla graffiti being sprayed, then fade to a little kid drawing with chalk while he and his mother wait for the train to go see....?
ReplyDeleteCarrie, "gare aux gorilles" is not the original name of the station ;-) It's coming from a very famous song of Georges Brassens, "Le Gorille", which tells the funny (and tragic) story of a gorilla escaped from a zoo, a nun and a young little judje....
ReplyDeleteEric, I guess you mean the station closed in '34, not the Petite Ceinture... I have very clear memories of the train passing down the windows of my grand-parents, when I was young... and I'm not that old ;-S
Wouldn't that be a cool house, though? I could imagine living there with a lovely garden in the back instead of the graffiti. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteBonjour Eric,
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note. I've sent you email, the PDP address.
Have fun!
Keats
Eric, this photo prompts me to ask a question, if you have time to answer, of something I've been thinking about of late: are there any part of Paris that you are 'afraid' to walk in?:) A couple of years ago an American college boy was found killed in the park, Butte ???, and I was wondering if like America, you have areas lone travelers shouldn't walk in or if it was a drug deal gone nasty and the news didn't want to reveal that.
ReplyDeleteHope they renovate it without changing the look of it too much. You sure do take us all over Paris, Eric (I love that)!
ReplyDeleteWow - thanks for that bit of info, Thib. The name I saw is below the peak of the roof of the station in red. It is wrapped around the mirror and seems just to say Pont Flandre. Now I'm off to find that song!!
ReplyDeleteWow, again - I just read a bit about the song ... kind of shocking. It makes this all the more sp-p-p-pooky!!
ReplyDelete@Keats. I did not see any mail from you I believe.
ReplyDelete@Trishia. Well, yes there are parts where I don't feel too safe, it's true. Just before I took this photo I wanted to take another one in a small narrow dark street nearby. There were two guys hanging out there, looking like they were up to no good. I passed my way!
But globally I feel safe in Paris.
Merci, Eric. I love the way you word that: globally I feel safe in Paris:)
ReplyDeleteUbran houses are rally best to live because of many thing. a sense of freshness is always there and silence really gives your mind sense of feeling good and awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming artist studio it would make all cleaned up, renovated and landscaped! Thanks, Eric! I never would have seen it otherwise! ^_^
ReplyDeleteLa petite ceinture!!.. It did carry passengers sometimes. As I remember , they sometimes used it to route some trains through in the Summer. I used to watch those trains and wonder where those people were going.
ReplyDelete