Berlioz in Paris
31, 34 and 35 rue de Londres
Berlioz stayed at several addresses close to each other in the rue de Londres (near the Gare Saint-Lazare) – no. 34 from October 1834 to May 1835, no. 35 from September 1836 to October 1837, then no. 31 from October 1837 to some time in 1844. Of these only the site of no. 34 is extant (on the right hand side of the road on the first photo below), but the present building has been extensively repaired and modified and probably bears the mark of different periods. The earliest parts (notably the staircase from the 2nd floor upwards) may go back to Berlioz’s time, but much of the façade, the entrance to the building, and the staircase up to the 2nd floor date from the mid-20th C. We are grateful to M. Ludart for supplying these details to us after a careful examination of the inside and outside of the building.
On the other hand nos. 31 and 35 have completely disappeared, and their place has been taken by a large modern building presently occupied by the administration of the SNCF (the French national railway). On the first photo below, the last residential building on the left side of the street is no. 21, after which the white SNCF building has the numbers 23 and 29. The second photo is taken from The International Library of Music for Home and Studio. Music Literature volume 1 (New York 1925), p.168; it purports to show the building at no. 31 rue de Londres in which Berlioz lived, though the dates given for Berlioz’s residence there (1843-1846) are incorrect.
The modern photograph reproduced on this page was taken by Michel Austin; the old photo is in our own collection. © Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.
The present rue de Londres
An early photograph of no. 31 rue de Londres
© 2000-2010 Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin for all the pictures and information on this page.
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