Rue de Lille (Paris)

Rue de Lille is a narrow, thousand-meter-long corridor lined with stone townhouses that began as an aristocratic development in the sixteen-forties. Originally named Rue de Bourbon for the abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, it took its current name in seventeen-ninety-two to honor the city of Lille’s defense against an Austrian siege. While it was once the site of grand private estates, the street has played host to a peculiar cast of residents and political tenants, ranging from the surrealist artist Max Ernst to the Gaullist party headquarters.