Barrière de l'Étoile

The Barrière de l’Étoile once stood here as a customs barrier, part of a massive wall known as the Wall of the Farmers-General that encircled Paris to collect taxes on goods entering the city. Opened in seventeen eighty-eight, the site featured two neoclassical buildings designed by the architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux. These structures sat on the edge of the circular plaza, flanking the entrance to the city from the road to Neuilly.