“Acacias once flourished here” I muse about Avenue de l’Acacia. This street boasts a rich history in the 17th arrondissement. It’s a story of nature’s presence and urban evolution.
Avenue de l’Acacia owes its name to a former acacia plantation. These trees once lined the street. They created a green canopy. The street’s history dates back to 1814. It makes it one of the oldest in this area. Back then this area was still part of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Imagine Avenue de l’Acacia as a simple path. It connected rue des Dames-de-Montmartre to route de Saint-Germain. Today these are known as rue Poncelet and avenue de la Grande-Armée. In 1860 the street officially became part of Paris. It retained its original name.
The acacias thrived until around 1880. They then disappeared possibly due to harsh winters. The great cold of 1879 could be the reason. The trees were never replanted. A typical feature is that Parisian avenues are often tree-lined. But the streets usually are not.
In 1875 avenue Mac-Mahon was created. It intersected with Avenue de l’Acacia. This formed one of the radials leading to Place de l’Étoile.
Several notable buildings mark Avenue de l’Acacia. Number 1 is rumored to have housed the Baron Noir. He was a mysterious pilot. He flew a phantom plane over Paris in the 1980s.
Jean Dutourd was born at number 3. His father had his home and dental practice there. Roland Garros lived in a small room at number 10. Numbers 16 and 31 are unique. These small one-story buildings survived from the street’s early days.
During World War II number 16 was a hotel. André Gaudin stayed there. He resisted the German occupation alongside Bernard Courtault. Between numbers 13 and 15 were stables of L’Urbaine et la Seine. These were removed by 1910.
An Art Deco building stands at number 17. It was constructed in 1931 by Jean Beaugrand. According to a song number 27 has a secret. Mireille sang about a room on the seventh floor. But the building only has six floors.
Béatrix Excoffon resided at number 32. She requisitioned an apartment for a feminist club during the Paris Commune.
Archduke Guillaume de Habsbourg-Lorraine lived at number 45. He rented an apartment there before fleeing France in 1935. Number 45 bis was once the Studio des Acacias cinema. It opened in 1933 and closed in 1984. Today the ground floor is a supermarket. The upper floors house the Nepalese embassy.
The poet Désirée Pacault died at number 47. At number 54 a former stable became a boxing gym in the 1930s. Famous boxers trained there including Carpentier and Cerdan. In 1954 Studio Mac Mahon was founded there. This photo studio became famous in the fashion world. It launched the careers of many stars. Daniel Filipacchi and Jean-Marie Périer created iconic images here.
Also at number 54 an old ballroom became a lacquer workshop. Louis Midavaine founded it in 1919. He hired war veterans. The workshop still creates and restores lacquer objects. It holds the EPV label.
The passage des Acacias is at number 56.
Avenue de l’Acacia also inspired a song. “27, rue des Acacias” was written in 1933. Mireille sang about the street’s various shops. However the song’s details are mostly poetic license. The locations don’t match reality.
Other “Acacia” streets existed in Paris. One was near Hôpital Necker. Another was in Montmartre. The alley in the Bois de Boulogne was also called “allée des Acacias”. There is also a “chemin des Acacias” at Père-Lachaise cemetery.
Today Avenue de l’Acacia stands as a testament to time. It represents a blend of nature urban development and cultural history.