Rue des Colonnes

Paris witnessed more destruction than building during the French Revolution period. Here is an exception! The Rue des Colonnes was a real estate venture aiming to mix apartments building and covered galleries with shops.

Though rare in Paris, the concept was not completely new (ie galleries of Palais Royal) but may have served as inspiration for the later Rue de Rivoli. Initially, this street was much longer, approximately a third of it survived later urban development.

Speaking of survival, the architect Nicolas Vestier luckily escaped the Guillotine. One of the real estate investors who commissioned the project (a man named Jean-Baptiste Saint-Jean) was not as lucky…