RUE DE COURCELLES

The street makes me think of a novel by Patrick Modiano ‘A trace of malice’: the narrator goes back to a flat at number 45 rue de Courcelles, just opposite the Chinese pagoda, in search of his past. Much like Marcel Proust, who also lived in this building for six years, searching for a fading past and lost time.  

The Red Pagoda, initially a small two-storey town house, was converted in 1926 by a Chinese antique dealer, Monsieur Loo, to house his chinese collection.

Parc Monceau
Atget
(BnF)

• At the park exit, on the Boulevard de Courcelles side, the rotunda is not a fake ruin, but a rare building preserved from a former fortified wall built around Paris in 1787. Not used to defend Paris but to get payments on goods entering the city. The buiIding is one of the few toll gates remaining. There were 62 different toll gates built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux. The models of these buildings can be seen at the Saline d'Arc et Senans in the Doubs department. 

• Let's cross Boulevard de Courcelles and turn left onto Rue Georges Berger.

BOULEVARD MALESHERBES

The Renaissance château-like building at the end of rue Georges Berger, place du Général Catroux, is today the Musée de l'Histoire de l'Economie open since 2019.

For many years, it was used as a subsidiary of the Banque de France, which bought it in 1923 from the family of the banker Emile Gaillard. A bit of a megalomaniac (note his initials G on the dormers), the banker invited 2,000 guests to the opening of his magnificent house, based on a wing of the Château de Blois.
Visiting the museum, very much in the spirit of the Monopoly game, is not only an enjoyable way of learning about the economy, but also an opportunity to discover the building's intact architecture and go downstairs to the old vault room.

We continue along boulevard Malesherbes where we arrive at the back of the church of Saint-Augustin, originally intended by Napoleon III to be his necropolis. The metal structure designed by Baltard, unsuspected from the outside, is elegantly sober inside.

The dice mark 4, which takes us now to the Bourse (ex Stock Exchange).

• Let's take Boulevard Haussmann on the left.
  A short way to the right is a small park around the Chapelle expiatoire, in memory of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. It deserves a visit. The chapel was built in 1814 on the spot of the former Madeleine cemetery, where the King and Queen were buried after their execution in 1793. In 1794, the cemetery was closed and sold. In 1814, King Louis XVIII had the remains of his brother and Marie-Antoinette re-interred in the royal selpulchre at Saint-Denis and had this chapel built in their memory.

• Further to the left, rue de l'Arcade offers a good view over Gare Saint-Lazare.

GARE SAINT-LAZARE

Originally built between 1885 and 1889 for the Universal Exhibition, the station is located in the heart of the Europe district, with streets named after European capitals. This was a brand new district dedicated to finance and industry, the result of a huge real estate operation, much like the game of Monopoly.
You might be surprised to see railway stations on the Monopoly board, as they are owned by the SNCF. But until 1937, the railways were owned by private companies run by wealthy investors.
Before its inauguration in 1889, Gare Saint-Lazare had existed since 1837, with the first regular service between Paris and Le Vésinet and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, then two summer resorts popular with the upper classes. At that time, the railway was mainly used by the wealthy, which explains the presence of the Palace Hotel, built around the same time, at 108 rue Saint-Lazare. The hotel is still there, but tourists have replaced the former English aristocrats and French bourgeois.
Outside the bronze sculptures by Arman, representing two piles of suitcases and clocks, tend to add a touch of whimsy hardly noticed by the hurried travellers. 

• Continuing along boulevard Haussmann, we can see the elegant golden circular roofs of the Printemps department stores. From the 7th-floor terrace, the view over Paris is breathtaking.

• Continue along rue Auber to the Opera, then turn left into rue du 4 septembre, then left onto rue Ménars, which leads into rue de Richelieu, then right onto rue de la Bourse. Along the way, the Rue des Colonnes is a strange passage made up of doric columns. This small corridor seems to mirror the more imposing columns of the Palais Brongniart at the end of the rue de la Bourse.

PLACE DE LA BOURSE

Since1998, it is no longer used as Stock Exchange. The Palais Brongniart has becomea centre of events, such as for the 2024 Olympic Games, when it was home toTeam USA House.

• Takea left into rue Lafayette.

The end of our second tour of Monopoly comes in the Rue Lafayette. This street has some rather odd buildings.
At 145, near Gare du Nord, there's an empty, fake building that's just a ventilation system for the RER. You can walk past it without noticing anything.

The perspective at 43 on the corner of rue de la Victoire can also be surprising.

The game continues for a third time through the rue de Belleville, since the dice score is 12. Lots of squares on the board, lots of streets to walk through before getting there...