“A street of ovens” you might say. Actually, Rue des Chaufourniers earned its name from a very specific type of oven. Let’s step back in time and discover the origins of this Parisian street.
Rue des Chaufourniers is located in the 19th arrondissement. It lies not far from the Buttes-Chaumont in the Quartier du Combat. This street owes its name to the old lime kilns near the Buttes-Chaumont quarries. These quarries were a major source of gypsum.
In Rue des Chaufourniers, large ovens heated the stone. This process extracted lime and then plaster. The name honors the “chaufourniers”. These men and women worked this difficult and dangerous job because quicklime is toxic.
The open-air mining of plaster stone began in the 13th century. It happened near the Saint-Martin press and the Montfaucon gibet. Mining expanded into underground quarries. These quarries spread across the sides of the Buttes-Chaumont and Beauregard hills. They were also known as the “American quarries”.
Plaster kilns multiplied near the dig sites. The “chaufourniers” watched the gypsum bake. They removed plaster blocks from the ovens. Plaster beaters crushed the plaster into powder after baking. The lime kilns disappeared in 1875 when the American quarries closed.
In the 18th century, the road was called “sentier du Moulin-Maquereau”. In 1817, it was known as “chemin de la Folie”. Between 1848 and 1860, it became “rue Arago”. A decree classified it as part of Parisian roads. An order gave it the current name.
Perhaps you recognize it from music videos. The rapper MHD filmed several clips here. “La Moula” and “Afro Trap Part. 2” feature his group, 1.9 Réseaux. The group consists of his neighborhood friends.
So, as you walk along Rue des Chaufourniers, remember its fiery past. Think of the workers tending the ovens, transforming stone into plaster. Their labor shaped not just the street but also the city around it. The City of Light literally built from the dust of these ovens.