What when you grow to be the proprietor of the previous home of Jean Racine in Paris? | EUROtoday

SI The commemorative plaque of 24, rue Visconti, in 6^e Arrondissement of Paris, indicating that Racine died right here on April 21, 1699 left little doubt in regards to the historic tenant of the property, this was not at all times the case. For many years, historians have certainly hesitated between two numbers: the 13 and the 21.

It was not till 1914 and the invention by a librarian within the metropolis of a 1696 plan figuring out the notable inhabitants of the district to lastly see slightly extra clear. Racine there seems properly on rue Visconti – then named rue du Marais – however “on a plot from the door from 24 to the corner of Bonaparte Street”, explains Julien Meguidech, director of Varenne.

The man instantly informs the journalist, author and historian André Hallays who, nonetheless in accordance with the company Varenne, “investigation, consults the archives of the Châtelet, goes up the owners’ chain to a certain Mareschal, surgeon of Louis XIV, whose receipt dated 1699 proves that he rented his house to the famous playwright. Hallays then concluded that Racine died in a house that has disappeared, included or replaced by adjoining constructions at 24. The commemorative plaque that we see today rue Visconti would therefore be placed not on the root house, but in its exact location. »»

“Racine has lived its final years”

But here in 1932, in his work Racine’s house and Visconti StreetPaul de Beauchêne, another historian of his condition, contradicts André Hallays saying that the root house is indeed the current building of 24, rue Visconti, with its two large bedrooms with bathrooms. It takes up the description given by the inventory after the death of Racine and has it coincided with the current building. “Uncertainty ended up changing into a legend itself,” said Varenne. What is certain is that it is here, between these walls, that Racine has lived there last years, that he has written there, perhaps reread his tragedies, and observed the world since the intimacy of his court. »»

The author of Phedron And Berenice Will not be the only one to fall in love with the places and the neighborhood. Long after him, the composer Guy-Bernard Delapierre, to whom we owe the music of the films Sorry my French (1951) and The mystery of the yellow room (1949), will give concerts there in the 1940s, Olivier Messiaen, also a composer, will provide private lessons from 1943 to 1947, the painter Jacques Poirier, well known for his works in trompe-l’oeil, will install his workshop there and Robert Doisneau will indulge in his famous passion for photography.

From the house drawn by Paul de Beauchêne in 1932, there is today only the Croconna Porte XVII^e A century behind which is hidden the classic facade of this famous apartment located on the ground floor on the courtyard, which is lived like a house. “With a completely independent entrance, it deploys its volumes around a 35 square meter wooded terrace, for exclusive use. The living room, the dining room and the kitchen open to this peaceful space, ideal for receiving or simply breathing the calm of the Visconti street, ”explains Julien Meguidech.

The detail that makes the difference

The apartment of Jean Racine is today 130 square meters, including two large bedrooms, embellished with a terrace and an independent studio of 20 square meters. The whole offered for sale by Varenne for 2.78 million euros.

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

According to Julien Meguidech, “It is a uncommon good that embodies each the discreet magnificence of the XVII^e century and the colourful spirit of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It displays a dwelling a part of French literary historical past. It is the handle of a person and an period. Each stone, every architectural element has a reminiscence in it. »»