| Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin | |
| Map Type: | France Paris |
| Map Size: | 265 |
| Coordinates: | 48.8739°N 2.3328°W |
| Arrondissement: | 9th |
| Quarter: | Chaussée-d'Antin |
| Terminus A: | 2 Boulevard des Capucines |
| Terminus B: | 73 Rue Saint-Lazare |
| Inauguration Label: | Denomination |
| Inauguration Date: | 1712 |
This "quartier" of Paris got its name from the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité.
In the 17th century the chemin des Porcherons crossed a swampy piece of ground north of the porte Gaillon, a city gate in the wall built during the reign of Louis XIII, leading to the village of Les Porcherons. It is called a chaussée because the marshy ground required raised construction that ran along the top of a sort of dyke.
At the rue de Provence it crossed the "great sewer" or, which was approximately two meters wide.
Under an ordinance dated 4 December 1720, the street was graded and resurveyed as a wider boulevard with a width of eight toises and extended to meet the grands boulevards to the south. This new boulevard stretched from the end of to Rue Saint-Lazare.
The frequent stays of Louis XV in Paris led to the building of splendid homes such as that of Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, the Duke of Antin (1665–1736). Son of the marquise de Montespan, the duke was the superintendent of the Bâtiments du Roi, or buildings of the king. His residence[1] faced this street and his name became associated with it as early as 1712.
At the intersection of the Boulevard des Capucines, stood the former hôtel de Montmorency, which gave way to the Théâtre du Vaudeville in 1869, and then the Paramount Opéra cinema theater in 1927. The main hall of the theater corresponds to the 'grand salon' -- probably a ballroom—of the 18th-century hôtel. The rotunda above the facade has been preserved.
The notorious stood on the present site of the Église de la Sainte-Trinité. It opened in 1724, and could accommodate 600 people for public festivities.
At the intersection of the Boulevard des Italiens stood the barracks of the Gardes Françaises - a regiment of the royal guard which was to play a key role in the revolutionary events of July 1789. The barracks was built by the Duke of Biron in 1764. It gave the boulevard its name for some years. On 12 July 1789, a platoon of the French Guards saved its colonel, M. Duchâtelet, from popular riots.[2]
The air was thought to be healthier to the north and west of Paris during the 18th century. That, and the higher ground, attracted the upper classes. A series of glamorous hôtels particuliers were erected along the Chaussée-d'Antin in the later 18th century (now destroyed) :
During the 19th century commercial establishments changed the character of the street, and shops opened in the ground floors of the old residences. For Honoré de Balzac "The heart of Paris today beats between rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin and rue du Faubourg Montmartre." In 1840 the street was extended past . The first one-way streets in Paris were the Rue de Mogador and the Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, created on 13 December 1909.