7 avenue Rapp
Neo-Renaissance door frame, decorated with foliage, a garland of fruit and pearls. Small bird of prey on the key above the door.
29 avenue Rapp
Built by Jules Lavirotte in 1901, the building won a prize in the City of Paris façade competition in 1903. The exuberant Art Nouveau decor borders on the delirious, with an overabundance of decorative plant motifs and, above all, magnaliers (see photos in the slideshow below). The décor of the door frame is as spectacular as it is dramatic in the literal sense, with its melancholy young woman and her slightly sinister fox stole. A lizard-shaped handle, griffins and swans highlight the door openings, in which some see the drawing of a male sex. The flamed sandstone decorations are by Alexandre Bigot.
3 square Rapp
Built in 1899 by Jules Lavirotte. The door is all curves of metal and wood, with lines reminiscent of 29 avenue Rapp. The facade is richly decorated, with large railings and ceramics by Alexandre Bigot. A small tower topped with a glazed tile roof completes the façade. The square is enclosed by a handsome gate.
37 avenue Rapp
Glycine above the door on a background of diamond-shaped motifs.
1 rue de Beaune
18th-century Hôtel de Vilette was home to Voltaire, who died here in 1778. The porch was transformed in the 19th century with neo-classical decoration. Two sphinxes guard the porch, while N° 1 is framed by two griffins. Interlocking caducei adorn the door wings.
67 quai d’Orsay
Beautiful Art Deco corner building with rotunda entrance hall. The door decor is dedicated to water, with handles in the shape of mermaids, and the bas-relief on the right depicts an allegory of the Seine. On the left, a bas-relief depicts Eve tempted by the serpent. Architect: André Lecomte. 1935
Other doors of interest:
| 10 and 10 bis avenue Elisée Reclus | Two doors with two narrow, rounded service doors. Ironwork with thistle motifs |
| 12 avenue Elisée Reclus | Wrought-iron door. A large pink flamingo in the center of the transom spreads its wings above two smaller pink flamingos. Architect H. Deglane. 1910 |
| 16bis avenue Elisée Reclus | Small, rounded porch decorated with a vine shoot. Two modillions at the top of the door: one depicts a woman’s face, the other a man’s face. Architect A. Barret |
| 10 rue de Sèvres | Two cherubs frame a shell with a small crab at the bottom. Shells. Architects Charles & Perpin. Sculptor Ardouin |
| 102 rue de Sèvres | A series of birds aligned on a branch to the left of the key, a nest with a bird incubating an egg facing another bird to the right of the key above the door. |
| 12 rue Dupont des Loges | Beautiful mascaron with rocaille motif. Architects Coutarel & Pradon. 1898 |
| 12 rue Sédillot | Round door divided into 3 parts by two columns. Art nouveau-style door hardware |
| 13 quai Voltaire | The narrowest building in Paris. The decoration of the lintel and cornices is reminiscent of the rocaille style, featuring chimeras and a cartouche bearing a female face. The door is topped by a very tall window with a meticulously refined design: chimeras, a mask, and a trophy. |
| 14 rue Vaneau | Two cherubs hold the medallion that adorns the clip above the door, showing the building’s former number. Very neat door surround with two half-pillars framing two half-columns supporting a highly-decorated basket-handle arch. Of note on the door leaves: the lower panels adorned with trophies, one dedicated to architectural instruments, the other to carpentry tools, and the small busts inserted in a cartouche at the base of two shells that form the rounding of the upper part of the leaves. |
| 148 rue de Grenelle | An atlante and a caryatid, depicted in profile, appear to be clinging to the facade as if scaling it. |
| 15 rue de Grenelle | Hôtel de Berulle. The door is part of a neo-classical half-moon façade. The door is very simple, with a Greek frieze as its only decoration. Of note: the gate on the right, behind which straw was stored for the horses. Architect Pierre-Claude Convers. 1765 |
| 21 rue Pierre Leroux | Scarab beetle on clip above door |
| 22 avenue de Saxe | Massive door frame featuring highly elaborate decoration that incorporates numerous classical ornaments and stands out due to the rounded shape of its fluted pilasters, whose grooves are adorned with delicate garlands of flowers. Architect A. Bahrmann |
| 22 rue de la chaise | Rounded door with wood decoration protruding from the façade |
| 22 rue Oudinot | Twin carriage entrance doors with bull’s eye on the mezzanine level. Above the door: menacing wolf’s head, mouth open. The wolf heads stand out against a background of oak branches. |
| 23 avenue Rapp | Lintel adorned with reeds. Architect G. Balleyguier |
| 23 rue Cler | Foliage and two children’s heads. Frieze along the facade with children’s heads |
| 36 rue Cler | Mascaron above the door: elongated male face with protruding cheekbones, sticking out his tongue. Doorframe decorated with foliage. |
| 23 rue de l’université | Bronze doors by Gérard Garouste inspired by Virgil’s Georgics, a work celebrating peasant life. |
| 3 rue Octave Gréard | Neoclassical porch flanked by two columns surmounted by a shell. The key is decorated with two dolphins facing each other. Note the window pediment above the door, decorated with a ship’s prow. The window is framed by two marine allegories. |
| 24 boulevard Raspail | Two rose bushes, presented in a very naturalistic manner, adorn the door frame. They are planted in two decorative pots from which ivy branches hang. The two rose bushes converge on either side of a feminine mascaron. The treatment of these rose bushes and the flowers that accent the door’s ironwork is reminiscent of Art Nouveau. The lintel is adorned with two small floral motifs set in Art Deco–style foliage. |
| 32 boulevard Raspail | Fruit garland and mosaic |
| 33 rue du Champ de Mars | Twin doors decorated with fruit and flowers. Arums. Architect Octave Raquin. 1904 |
| 39 avenue Rapp | Long-tailed animal holding a snake in its beak. |
| 4 avenue de Breteuil | Two lion heads on balcony brackets frame the door, their paws hanging down like trophies. |
| 4 avenue de Tourville | Large carriage entrance flanked on the left by an Atlantean and on the right by a caryatid. |
| 46 rue du Bac | Door decorated in the rocaille style, surmounted by a mascaron inscribed in a cartouche. The mascaron represents Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion. The rounded surround is flanked by 2 fire pots and topped by a bull’s eye. This building is home to Deyrolles, the famous curiosity cabinet and naturalist. Don’t hesitate to enter and visit the small museum on the 1st floor. |
| 48 boulevard Latour Maubourg | rounded door |
| 5 avenue de Saxe | Beautiful ironwork. Decorated with pine branches and maritime pine cones on the door frame. 1905 |
| 5 avenue Sully Prudhomme | Shell motif and beautiful knocker. The shape of the casement heralds Art Nouveau? Above, on the façade, 2 allegorical figures. |
| 50 avenue Bosquet | A very expressive male mask with his raised left eyebrow is surrounded by two oak garlands and ribbons. At 52 avenue Bosquet a similar decoration adorns the door but the masculine mask has no particular expression |
| 50 avenue de Ségur | Rounded door with plant motifs set in a pointed arch. Art nouveau style. Architect Gabriel Ruprich Robert. 1899 |
| 51 rue de Bellechasse | Curious transom with teardrop-shaped windows |
| 53 quai d’Orsay | Tobacco picking (former Seita building). The Seita was the national tobacco factory. |
| 55 quai d’Orsay | Incredible pediment adorned with flowers, with a nest in the center and two swallows on either side. Bird motif on the wrought iron door wings. Art Deco style. Architect Raymond Boudier. 1933-1937 |
| 56 rue de Varenne | A very beautiful porch with lavish decor, featuring an abundance of seashells (corals, cockles, hermit crabs, etc.) on and around a large shell. |
| 60 rue de Bellechasse | Two palms frame the key above the door. Small service door surmounted by an oculus with an escutcheon bearing the architect’s name. Alexandre Marcel. 1858 |
| 78 rue de l’Université | Imposing porch adorned with a curious male mascaron with wavy, dangling hair and beard |
| 8 avenue Emile Deschanel | Elegant wrought-iron door crowned with an oval canopy |
| 8 avenue de Lowendal | Two caryatids draped up to the chest. Cubist style. |
| 82 avenue de Breteuil | A very beautiful bust of Diana with a crescent on her head. One can discern her bow at the base of the bust. |
| 82 boulevard de Latour Maubourg | Neo-Renaissance style. A crowned porcupine (Louis XII’s emblem) adorns an intricately carved doorpiece. |
| 84 rue de Grenelle | Headquarters of the National Horticultural Society. The monumental porch is lavishly decorated. Large pilasters frame the entrance, embellished with fruits and vegetables arranged as trophies tied with ribbons. Above these trophies sit two medallions: a cow with its bell on the left and a horse on the right. The impost is crowned by an oval female mascaron, flanked by two putti holding garlands of flowers and fruits, which are also supported by two young women whose hair is adorned with flowers on the left and grapes on the right. |
| 86 avenue de Breteuil | A very beautiful rounded and curved porch decorated with laurels and garlands of roses |
| 91 rue de l’université | Two cherubs hold the cartouche above the doorway displaying the building’s number, their feet perched on a garland of fruit. Scrolls of foliage adorn the doorframe. |
| 97 rue de Lille | Magnificent porch featuring an enormous cartouche surrounded by foliage and scrolls, which crowns a very beautiful carriage entrance. |
| 99 avenue de La Bourdonnais | Sunflowers and shell |
Une journée à Paris 