Dreaming of roses? Then you have come to the right place at Allée Jules Gravereaux. This place commemorates Jules Gravereaux. He was a French rhodologist. He was born in Vitry-sur-Seine. Gravereaux created the first modern rose garden. It was called the Roseraie du Val-de-Marne. He is the great-uncle and godfather of illustrator Jacques Touchet.
Jules Gravereaux was born in 1844. His parents were Jean Narcisse Gravereaux a carpenter and Marie Henriette Gervais. In 1861, he apprenticed with a hosier. The hosier’s shop was on Rue du Bac. Two years later, he worked in a haberdashery. This was owned by Aristide Boucicaut and his wife. In 1852, the Boucicauts bought vacant land. It was located opposite their haberdashery. They built Le Bon Marché there.
Gravereaux began at Le Bon Marché in 1864. He started as a simple salesman. He gradually progressed. After working at the Magasin du Louvre and the Magasin de la Paix, he returned to Le Bon Marché. He was “First” in the “Gloves, Umbrellas and Fans” department. In 1872, he married Laure Thuillier.
From 1874, Gravereaux became an “intéressé”. This meant he received a percentage of the store’s profits. This was due to his performance as department head. After Monsieur Boucicaut’s death, his wife transformed Le Bon Marché. She turned it into a cooperative association. Jules Gravereaux was one of the most important “limited partners”. He acquired shares that increased in value. This formed the basis of his fortune.
Madame Boucicaut had no heirs. Upon her death, she bequeathed her shares of Le Bon Marché to her employees. She based it on their seniority. Gravereaux increased his financial wealth. He had been there from the beginning. In 1888, at the age of forty-four, he retired.
In 1892, he bought a large property in L’Haÿ. There he developed a significant rose collection. In 1899, he contacted landscape architect Édouard André. Together, they developed the first garden dedicated to roses. It was called a roseraie.
In 1901, the Ministry of Agriculture asked him to study wild Rosa plants. They also wanted him to study the horticultural and industrial production of fragrant roses. He traveled to the Balkans for this mission. Back in L’Haÿ, he wanted to create new fragrant roses. These would facilitate distillation processes. He worked on hybrids of Rosa rugosa. He developed the rose ‘Rose à parfum de L’Haÿ’. The rose ‘Commandeur Jules Gravereaux’ honors him.
Jules Gravereaux helped restore Empress Joséphine’s rose collection. This collection was at the Château de la Malmaison. He also created the rose gardens in the Parc de Bagatelle and the Élysée. He created many roses. One was named after the pseudonym of a famous female writer Daniel Lesueur.
He was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1902. He was promoted to Officer in 1910. He became Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit. This was for promoting rose gardens and the rose trade. In 1914, the town of L’Haÿ became L’Haÿ-les-Roses. Jules Gravereaux died in Paris in 1916.
Gravereaux asked Édouard André to design an ideal rose garden. He understood the importance of collecting botanical species. This was for scientific research and new selections. He studied cultivation methods. He also studied the use of fertilizers. Furthermore he researched pest control for insects and diseases that attack roses.
Swiss botanist Henry Correvon said that Jules Gravereaux and Miss Ellen Willmott created a “religion of roses”. He called it Rhodosophy. Gravereaux also helped create the Roseraie de Bagatelle in Paris. He helped restore Empress Joséphine’s rose collection at Malmaison. 198 of the original 250 species were rediscovered there.
Gravereaux worked on selecting roses for perfumery. Two notable creations were ‘Roseraie de l’Haÿ’ and ‘Rose à Parfum de l’Haÿ’. He served as honorary president of rose societies. These included the Société Nationale d’Horticulture de France.
Allée Jules Gravereaux is a fitting tribute. It honors a man who dedicated his life to roses. His work continues to inspire rose enthusiasts.