Architecture

Almost floating above the Colonel Fabien traffic island is a rare chance to see the work of a titan of architecture outside his native Brazil; Oscar Niemeyer delivered his client a lyrical masterpiece while he was in exile after a military coup back home. The French Communist Party Headquarters was completed in 1971 at a time when the party and its ideology was still a force to be reckoned with in the country. A six-storey boomerang-shaped office block forms a glass curtain that opens up over the district.

The sheer size and sumptuousness of this modernist structure – as well as its astonishing views of the Eiffel Tower – make it an art deco revelation. France’s most prestigious performance space was completed in 1937 for the Paris Universal Exhibition by architects Léon Azéma, Jacques Carlu and Louis-Hippolyte Boileau. The centrepiece is the Grand Foyer, lined with a series of triumphant torchères to make it a very grand affair. Huge murals painted by a host of artistic heavyweights including Paul Belmondo and Louis Billotey only add to the exuberance. 

This private residence manages to stand apart from the area’s ornamented set of art nouveau apartment buildings – Jules Lavirotte’s 1901 design won the prize for the best façade in the city that year. Seven storeys with four bays are arranged with typical art nouveau asymmetry; Lavirotte wanted to create an imbalance and a movement in the building in contrast to its rigidly Haussmannian neighbours. The theme – as reflected in a lizard-shaped door handle and bulls’ heads and turtles as balcony supports – is a dedication to the fertility of nature. The upside-down phallus on the front door sets the tone.