“The Rue des Quatre-Sous,” a voice whispered from the shadows, sending shivers down your spine. That’s what they used to call Rue Chaudron. It got its nickname from a grim establishment that once stood here. For a mere four sous, the city’s poorest could buy a night’s rest. Now, Rue Chaudron runs through the heart of the 10th arrondissement, its past a stark contrast to the vibrant life that surrounds it today. It began its life in 1718, christened after a man named Joseph Chaudron who gifted the city a fountain at the corner of Rue La Fayette and Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin. While the fountain is gone, lost to time in 1861, the street named for its creator remains. Picture, if you will, the mid-19th century. Instead of bustling cafes and lively shops, imagine ramshackle huts, home to Paris’ ragpickers. Inside that “hotel” for the desperate, a single rope stretched along the wall. Penniless souls would line up, each paying their sous for the right to lean against the rope, their heads resting on their forearms, for a few hours of troubled sleep. Rue Chaudron may no longer echo with the whispered desperation of the past, but its story serves as a reminder of the city’s complex and ever-evolving history.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to