Imagine a small alley, paved with stone. On both sides of it is a low stone wall, lined with pine or cypress trees. The small alley is steep, and at the beginning there are several steps with a white-painted metal railing. Along the stone wall are small metal gates, black metal pillars connected by smooth boards that prevent a glimpse of the individual's possessions, but between the pillars and the keyhole, you can see a small patch of grass, manicured flower beds, a round metal table with three matching metal chairs, tilted diagonally across the table. On the table, sits, perhaps lying, a spotted, plump, tired cat, its tail curled around it and its eyes closed, enjoying the winter sun.
The sun's rays sparkle in the window of the house, on the second floor, between the green wooden shutters, sometimes open, sometimes closed. Under the window, two clotheslines with a floral sheet spread out on them fluttering in the light breeze. All around is peace and quiet. The hum of bees flying among the flowers, the sound of the sprinkler silently watering the flower beds. You can almost hear the grass growing...
No, this is not a description of a remote village in the south. France. Nor of a forgotten town in the British Countryside. Unbelievably, we are in the heart of the bustling and bustling 19th arrondissement of Paris. Well, not quite in the heart of it, a little further north, in a neighborhood called “Mouzaia”. This neighborhood has no clear boundaries. It is centered around the Danube metro station and is bordered on its east by the Chapeau Rouge park (“Red Hat Park”), and on its west by the Buttes Chaumont park. To the north it borders the Villette cemetery, and to the south, naturally, by a street called Rue de Mouzaia.
The street is named after a village of that name in Algeria, where heavy fighting took place during the French conquest of North Africa in 1830. Today it is a city of about 52,000 inhabitants, about 60 km south of the capital Algiers.
At that time, the street was at the edge of the city and to the north of it were quarries, from which private owners produced gypsum stones. The quarries were in the area of the village of Belleville, which was absorbed into the urban area of Paris Only in 1860. The quarries produced white plaster that was used to build new buildings in Paris, which was being renovated during the era of Baron Haussmann, in the mid-19th century – and mainly for the famous plaster decorations on the ceilings of the rooms. An urban legend, which has no historical references, tells that the white plaster stones were sent, among other things, to America and used to build the “White House” (the truth is that the White House burned down in 1814, and again in 1929, and to hide the signs of the fire – it was painted white). Because of this legend, the entire quarries district was called Quartier d'Amerique (“America Quarter”).
The gypsum quarries began operating in the Middle Ages (13th century), when they were still far outside the city, and they operated there until 1860, when they were passed down from father to son. The last owner, Jacques Montreage, an external consultant to the municipality of Belleville (as mentioned, a village outside Paris at the time), founded the “Horse Marketing Company” in 1870, with several partners, to establish a horse and hay market there, at the request of the Paris City Council. In return, the city granted him a concession to use the surrounding land. The partners did open three streets in the area, including Mouzaia Street, but the market itself did not come into being, mainly due to the French defeat in battles with the Prussian army (1871) and the establishment of the “Paris Commune” after it, a period that caused anarchy in France and a major economic crisis. The company sank into debt and dissolved in 1879. The bank, which owned the land after the company was dissolved, reached an agreement with the Paris municipality to establish a residential neighborhood in the area, but with severe restrictions due to the sensitivity of the land – city engineers claimed that due to the quarrying tunnels in the area, the land was unstable and tall buildings could not be built on it. Thus, this neighborhood was destined to be populated only with small buildings, up to two stories high, with gardens and spaces between the houses that were limited to a width of 7 meters.
Architect Paul Casimir Fouquiau, who had already worked in the area on the Horse Market project, was appointed to design the new neighborhood that would contain small houses for the middle class, workers, and small merchants. He designed about 250 identical houses, made of red brick. Half a floor sunken at street level (the neighborhood is located on a hillside), a living room on the ground floor, and a bedroom on the first floor. A small courtyard at the back of the house with a bathroom (the bathroom “entered” the house only in the 20s), a small garden in the front, a stone fence, and a decorated iron gate. Very few houses in the neighborhood look like this today – a large number of them have undergone renovations and changes, which gives the neighborhood’s alleys a colorful and welcoming appearance. All houses in the neighborhood are strictly prohibited from digging a basement or adding another floor. The 250 small houses are spread out along small alleys, most of them straight and paved with stone, with no passage for cars. Some of them are dead-end alleys, going in only one direction.
Along one of the streets of the district, Rue du General Brunet, a local developer purchased a plot of land that remained vacant until the 20s (1923) and built about 28 small houses in a fenced and gated area (there are several such gated neighborhoods throughout Paris). The small street, Hameau du Danube (“Danube Manor” – the entire district was named after the local metro station, “Danube”. Note the small sign in the lower left corner) is now a small enclave, a kind of private, closed neighborhood within the district, and entry into the small alley is only possible by invitation from one of the residents. Other small alleys in the district are named after flowers (Villa des Lilas), writers and public figures (Villa Marceau, Villa Carnot), regions in France (Villa de Lorraine, Villa d'Alsace), and the entire neighborhood is crossed by three (relatively) main streets – Rue de la Liberte, Rue de l'Egalite, Rue de la Fraternite, which are (for those who haven't recognized) the three "legs" of French democracy.
Along the alleys, some of which slope down the hill, are low stone fences that hide the small courtyards. The French jealously guard their privacy and many of the house fences are covered with dense vegetation or bamboo canes (the simpler ones stretch green or blue jute cloth sheets). The decorated lampposts look like they came from another century and during the day the place looks deserted, quiet and calm, except for a few pairs of bicycles and a pair of cats sunbathing on a purple metal chair, or a low stone fence. The alleys are small and narrow, there is no entrance for vehicles and there are no businesses or restaurants of any kind, the environment is completely quiet and you can easily hear the rustling of the newspaper pages that the neighbor is reading in her garden beyond the fence.
In the 70s, Paris underwent a major facelift, and entire neighborhoods in the city were renovated or rebuilt, and the city was filled with tall concrete buildings (some would say, ugly…). The real estate boom did not pass over the Mouzaia district, and quite a few entrepreneurs showed great interest in the small alleys. The neighborhood’s residents, mostly retirees and older people, quickly organized themselves and launched a loud protest that received much attention from the media and various conservation associations, an area in which the French are very active. On August 20, 6, the French Minister of Culture signed a decree granting the entire district the status of a “site for conservation,” a decree that was unanimously approved by the Paris City Council in March 1975.
(All photos in this article were taken by Yossi Drori).