Avenue Frochot

The Pigalle episode of Paris je t’aime ends outside Avenue Frochot, a private street of houses that is now a dead-end since its exit at one end onto Place Pigalle was sealed up. Today the only entrance is on rue Victor Massé at number 26. It is open during the day and is named after the Prefect Nicolas Frochot, who is credited with finding the land which would become the cemeteries of Père-Lachaise, Montmartre, Montparnasse and Passy at the request of Napoleon Bonaparte during his reign as emperor. The street first opened in 1830 and it boasts several handsome 19th century townhouses in a verdant and leafy setting. They include the house in which composer Victor Massé died in 1884 at number 1, which is marked with a commemorative plaque. The Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lived for a time at number 6 and at number 15 the artists Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Merwart shared a studio. Bob and Fanny's nostalgia for their stage career finds its echoes in this historic street, formerly home to a variety of artists.

Photo credit - Par Maya-Anaïs Yataghène from Paris, France (Signe Frochot) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons