Appartement Vertus

Rue des Vertus lies in the heart of the Marais in Paris, in the 3rd arrondissement, and runs from Rue au Maire to Rue Réaumur. The southern part of the street is a pedestrian zone, while the northern section used to lead to Rue Phelipeaux before that street was absorbed into Rue Réaumur. The origin of the street's name is historically disputed. It first appears in 1546 in a document from the Abbey of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. It may have been named after the theological virtues, in connection with the layout of the Maison du Temple, or it may derive from the church of Notre-Dame-des-Vertus in Aubervilliers, which old maps show as the destination of the road leading there. Another, less serious theory from the 19th century suggests a mocking allusion to the women who lived on the lane at the time.

Architecturally, the street is defined by a mix of historic and more recent buildings. On the even-numbered side, 17th-century facades dominate, including the distinctive, slightly projecting buildings at numbers 2 and 4. This is also where you'll find the elementary school built in 1898, designed by Albert Grégoire in the typical style of the period. On the odd-numbered side, a modern office and residential building has stood since 1994, replacing the old workshops of the former Cour de Rome. A special architectural detail can be found at the corner of Rue des Gravilliers: a barred window is decorated with a wrought-iron motif featuring a Medici lion and Bacchic attributes, hinting at an earlier use as a wine merchant's house.

Culturally and socially, Rue des Vertus has a rich history. In the 19th century and into the late 20th century, it was known for its weekly-rate hotels, which housed seasonal workers from the Wenzhou region of China who worked in the local jewelry and watchmaking industry. Today the street is home to restaurants, residential buildings, and studios, and it borders the oldest Asian quarter in Paris. The venue at number 26, the As de coeur, wrote a well-known chapter in music history. Opened in 1929, this establishment became one of the most important gathering places for Parisian musette music from the 1930s onward. The lane also entered popular culture through the 1967 film Un idiot à Paris, in which it serves as the setting for part of the plot.