2 quai des Célestins
Hôtel Fieubet. Two sheathed Atlanteans stand guard.
47 rue Vieille du Temple
Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, alias des Ambassadeurs de Hollande. Carved porch and casements. Spectacular pediment allegories. Architect Pierre Cottard. Sculptor Thomas Regnaudin. 17th century.
This street is lined with numerous private mansions, most of which date from the 17th and 18th centuries.
24 rue Vieille du temple
Two griffins share the door’s transom.
4 rue de l’Ancienne Comédie
Narrow nailed door. The frame is very simple, adorned with two small consoles and topped by a cartouche set in a very simple lintel that serves as the base for a transom window.
4 rue Rambuteau
Neo-Renaissance door frame. Scrolls on the lintel and doorframe. Three small busts enliven the top of the door. The lintel is framed by two projecting figures forming consoles.
17 rue Rambuteau
Two winged sirens surmount the triangular pediment of the door.
12 rue de Jouy
Carriage entrance surmounted by a mascaron depicting Hercules with the hammer appearing behind his head. Architect : Jean-François Desmaisons. 1743
51 rue Saint Louis en l’ile
Hôtel Chenizot, built during the 17th century, transformed during 18th century, as evidenced by this rocaille-style door. Two chimeras frame a male mascaron.
12 rue du renard
Syndicat de l’épicerie française: trade union of the groceries. Very elaborate doors with a touch of art nouveau in the leaves.
3 rue Aubriot
Striking porte cochère with its opening at an angle to the sidewalk. 17th century
20 quai de Béthune
Lintel adorned with a curious female mascaron with two large outstretched wings. The two consoles supporting the balcony are terminated by two small faun figures. Beautiful studded door.
26 rue de Rivoli
Musical instruments on the wings: violin and trumpet on the left, bugle on the right.
48 bis rue de Rivoli
Two sheathed Atlanteans, one old and one young, flank the door. The old man seems to be glaring at the young man. Architect A. Garriguenc. Statuary Kinsburger. 1905
76 rue de Rivoli
A woman’s bust surrounded by garlands stands out against a geometric diamond motif. The inscription on the ribbon behind the head indicates that it is of Gabrielle d’Estrée.
22 rue du Temple
Beautiful studded door.
2 rue Charles V
Mascaron depicting a smiling faun.
43 rue des Francs Bourgeois
A feminine Hercules! It is indeed a mascaron representing Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion that adorns the key to this porte cochère, but a Hercules with very feminine features! Architect: Henri Rousset. 1912
Other doors of interest:
| 1 rue Pecquay | A small, simple door with a basket-handle arch and the building number in a small escutcheon that stands out on the lintel. |
| 1 rue Saint Antoine | Woman holding a sheaf of wheat in a medallion framed by garlands of flowers and laurel branches |
| 12 rue Saint Merri | Beautiful mascaron with a man’s face, eyebrows furrowed, mouth open, very expressive. |
| 14 quai de la Mégisserie | Caryatids |
| 15 rue Charles V | Mascaron depicting a man’s face sticking out his tongue.1642 |
| 20 rue des Lombards | Art nouveau. Sunflower decoration on the door frame and the brackets supporting the windows. |
| 22 rue Quincampoix | Very beautiful door frame featuring a basket-handle design in rocaille style. Note the very prominent palm decoration that extends across the entire top of the door. |
| 27 rue du Bourg tibourg | Fireplace plaque in place of a mascaron above the door |
| 28 rue des blancs Manteaux | Rare bakery grille adorned with sheaves of wheat |
| 31 rue des Francs Bourgeois | Hôtel d’Albret. Architect: Mansart. 17th century |
| 32 rue Saint Antoine | Ceramic door frame featuring a series of animals along a kind of vine: lion, stork, rabbit playing trumpet, pelican, duck, spicy pig, child dressed in antique style brandishing a key above his head. Above, in the center, a playing-card king and queen. |
| 39 rue Saint Antoine | Porte cochère flanked by two asymmetrical recessed columns. |
| 4 rue François Miron | Beautiful head of a bearded man crowned with laurel above the door. Building where François Couperin and his family lived. |
| 45 rue Vieille du Temple | A very narrow door topped by an elongated bull’s-eye window and flanked by two large arcades. The entire structure is adorned with rocaille-style cartouches. Architect Pierre Caqué. 1730 |
| 51 rue de Montmorency | Probably the oldest house in Paris, this building was constructed by Nicolas Flamel, a public writer and bookseller reputed to be an alchemist, to shelter the poor. The inscription on the lintel underscores the building’s charitable purpose. 1407 |
| 56 rue du Roi de Sicile | Red mosaic facade of a former horsemeat butcher shop with a depiction of a rearing horse and the inscription « Horse Purchase » |
| 58 rue du Roi de Sicile | Art Deco-style rounded door. The door’s border is decorated with a ceramic stoneware frieze depicting pomegranates. |
| 6 impasse Guéménée | Large carriage entrance topped with a triangular pediment decorated with a pile of objects which seem dedicated to the arts and science with busts, a world map, books… |
| 68 rue François Miron | Hôtel de Beauvais. Very beautiful curved sculpted doorway with two curious bollards in front serving as wheel guards. 17th century |
| 7 rue Neuve Saint Pierre | Contemporary bronze sculpture. Hands emerge from the porch and reach out towards a balloon. |
| 9 quai aux fleurs | Large door under a basket-handle arch surmounted by a cartouche adorned with a face that evokes the face of Christ, framed by two garlands of flowers and fruit. |
Une journée à Paris 