Rue de la Cerisaie

“A cherry orchard in Paris?” you might ask. Right here, on Rue de la Cerisaie, the name whispers of a sweeter past. Rue de la Cerisaie, tucked away in the 4th arrondissement, owes its name to the cherry trees that once graced the gardens of the Hôtel Saint-Pol. Imagine, in the 16th century, this area brimming with fragrant blossoms. Rue de la Cerisaie first appeared on Paris maps between 1760 and 1771. It was born from the royal gardens, a path carved through the cherry orchard. This street began its life in 1544. It ran through a cherry orchard within the gardens of the Hôtel d’Étampes. King François I had incorporated this into the royal domain of the Hôtel Saint-Pol in 1531, but sold it to developers in 1543. This led to the creation of Rue de la Cerisaie. The street originally extended at a right angle all the way to Rue Saint-Antoine. In a 1636 manuscript, Rue de la Cerisaie, then called “rue de la Serrizaye,” is described as “filthy, dirty, and full of mud and filth.” This gives us a glimpse into the less glamorous side of its early days. By the 18th century, the grand Hôtel de Lesdiguières stood here. It was initially built for Sébastien Zamet, a wealthy financier, around 1585. The original path through the cherry orchard became part of the hotel’s gardens. The hotel was later sold to the Constable de Lesdiguières. Between 1739 and 1742, the gardens were significantly reduced, sold off for development, and for the construction of Rue Lesdiguières in 1765. The remaining gardens were later built over, erasing the last visible traces of the original orchard. Even the hôtel itself was rebuilt smaller in 1741 where numbers 10 and 12 now stand. A plaque there commemorates Tsar Peter the Great’s stay in 1717. Sadly, the hôtel was demolished in 1877 during the construction of Boulevard Henri-IV. Another casualty of this construction was a house built by the architect Philibert Delorme in 1558 at number 14. Today, Rue de la Cerisaie retains its charm. It’s a quiet street, running from Boulevard Bourdon to Rue du Petit Musc. While the cherry trees are long gone, their legacy lives on in the street’s name. A reminder of a time when royalty strolled through blossoming orchards in the heart of Paris.