“Wallpaper factory?” you ask. The Folie Titon started as something quite different. It later became a wallpaper factory owned by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. It is located in the old Faubourg Saint-Antoine. This area saw the first hot air balloon take off. It also saw the start of the Paris riots that led to the French Revolution.
The Folie Titon began as a country house. Maximilien Titon, director of royal arms factories, built it in 1673. The Folie Titon on Rue de Montreuil was a beautiful home. Charles de La Fosse painted its ceilings.
Jean-Baptiste Réveillon bought it in 1765. He turned it into a wallpaper factory. In 1784, it became the Royal Wallpaper Factory.
The aeronaut Pilâtre de Rozier made the first hot air balloon experiments in the Folie Titon gardens. He worked with the Montgolfier brothers.
In 1789, workers rioted due to wage reduction fears. They looted the house. Everything burned. They burned an effigy of Réveillon. He had taken refuge in the Bastille. Royal troops violently suppressed the riot in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
On October 19, 1783, history was made here. The first manned aircraft, a captive hot air balloon, took off. It was later called a Montgolfier balloon. The physicist Pilâtre de Rozier and Giroud de Villette were on board. Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier and Jean-Baptiste Réveillon built this balloon in the factory.
In late 1789, the Réveillon affair or Réveillon riot occurred. Réveillon employed over 300 workers. A few days before the Estates General opened in Versailles, an economic crisis was occurring, especially a bread shortage. Réveillon suggested tax exemption on bread at Paris gates. This would boost consumption. It would also allow wage cuts. Workers only focused on the wage cuts. This caused a three-day riot in Paris. Many workers from Faubourg Saint-Antoine factories, including this folie, stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
The Folie Titon was completely demolished in 1880.
Today, a small park exists on the site of the Folie Titon. In 2007, the city created this small park. It covers only 0.5 hectares.
The park features a splendid pond. It covers 150 square meters. There is a viewing platform. It encourages biodiversity. Various beds of woody plants have informative botanical signs. A jardin partagé includes thirteen allotments. Local school children and people in wheelchairs garden these allotments. An area of lawn has amphitheater-style seating. There are small playgrounds and a sandpit.
The park is well-maintained and popular. It exemplifies how to create a sustainable public park.
The Folie Titon garden has a circular path around a big lawn. People sit or lie here. An informational sign describes a lily pond. It was recently installed to encourage aquatic biodiversity. You can see water lilies and tall reeds. Goldfish swim around. Flowering and aromatic plants grow nearby. Honeysuckle, nasturtium, fuchsia, and sage thrive. Some vegetables grow here too. Cherry tomatoes and squash are present.