𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥 : 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀. And one of them is HAUNTED!
Avenue Frochot, Pigalle neighborhood, Paris, France.
This private, tree-lined street has a gentle slope up towards mansions in Flemish, medieval, neo-antique, or Art Deco styles. Access is strictly interdit (forbidden) to the public, but I was able to gain access and share with you an insider’s look at this hidden (and haunted) street in Paris.
The avenue was created on land acquired as national property in July 1796. It bears the name of the prefect Seine Nicolas Frochot (1761-1828), whom Napoleon I charged with buying land outside the limits of Paris. Frochot transformed this land into four cemeteries: the cemetery of Pere -Lachaise, the Montmartre cemetery, the Montparnasse cemetery, and the Passy cemetery.
The street was opened in 1826, and these mansions were built from 1837 to the early 1840s. Practically every house has had a famous resident in it. But mansion number one has a rather horrible story. The composer Victor Massé (1822-1884) lived there for many years and was bedridden, paralyzed by multiple sclerosis.
After him, the director of the Folies Bergères purchased the house. He bequeathed his fortune to his housekeeper. And in a tragic event, she was brutally murdered there; her killer was never found.
Then Mathieu Galey became the owner, a French writer, and critic, who wrote in his diary on March 10, 1978, “Bought the Frochot house. A bit like going into debt to acquire my Gothic tomb ” (Matthieu Galet, Journal 1974-1986 at Grasset). But did the writer foretell his fate? He dies eight years later – from the same disease that killed Victor Massé a century earlier. The singer Sylvie Vartan acquired it much later, but curiously, she barely stayed and fled the property shortly after moving in.
If you seek out this street, please be respectful of the residents!
Bisous from France,
Shannon
#hiddenparis #secretparis #paristour