Immeuble situé 31 et 33 quai de l’Horloge

English translation

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History

The building results from the grouping of two houses, built at the beginning of the 17th century, as evidenced by the presence of a large mullion at the centre of the façade. These were united and raised by two storeys between 1892 and 1895 by the architect Alphonse Moreau. The latter also designed the main vestibule and staircase, where the date 1895 appears (on the stair newel). The roof spaces were modified for the layout of apartments, probably in the 1930s. In the Parisian business directory Didot-Bottin almanac of 1862, it is specified that at number 31 were engravers on metals (specializing in heraldic motifs) Durant and Monnehay and a maker of drawing instruments Rouvet. In 1892, the shop belonged to an optician, Derogy.

Description

The building is located in the north-west part of the Île de la Cité, on the back side of Place Dauphine. The work at the end of the 19th century was accompanied by the "haussmannization" of the elevation, with the refurbishment of the architraves of the openings, the addition of a continuous balcony on the first floor and the reconfiguration of the entrance doors: main door at 31, treated with a certain monumentality, service door, simpler, at 33. But the most interesting arrangements concern the common parts, particularly the vestibule and the departure of the staircase, whose articulation obeys a very theatrical arrangement, and whose decoration style, inspired by the early Renaissance, is original for an apartment building. Narrow and high-ceilinged, the vestibule gives axially onto a door with an imposing moulded architrave, which is raised by a perron of five steps, and which frames the departure of the staircase. It is embellished on the sides by two small doors, one false on the party wall, arranged symmetrically and whose fluted columns are topped by Ionic capitals enriched with vegetable motifs and small human and animal figures. Its walls are hung with painted canvas with stylized floral motifs, of a type rarely preserved. The departure of the staircase, in wood, is itself enriched by finely wrought ornamental sculpture. It consists of a pillar decorated with an ancient candelabrum, to which is attached a volute with floral decoration. From the pillar depart the handrail and the string, with contoured profile, which connect to the stair core, carved with festoons of fruit and figures evoking the masks of lions and those of Japanese Noh theatre. By contrast, the rest of the staircase appears very plain. Of the ramp-on-ramp type with two cores, it is fitted with square rampant balusters. Its narrow cage is clothed only by a false wainscot of wood colour. It is lit sparingly by windows with geometric stained glass giving onto the courtyard. It has been somewhat altered by the piercing of an elevator bay.