Welcome to 1789...

well i suppose the house looked a lot better than that when he lived there..i wouldn't want to live in a house with a broken roof. xD everyone would think me a witch or something. I don't believe it was the house on The rue rapporteures..hmm..but i could be wrong..didn't he live with one of his aunts right? So maybe..or that's another house before he got the rue rapporteues.

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This one's labelled as being in Paris, not Arras, though it looks like it isn't in a built-up area. A lot of old Paris was demolished in the late 19th century - and Arras was flattened in World War I! Danton's house in Arcis was destroyed in fighting in World War II, though I have seen an old photograph of it somewhere.

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oooh..i didn't see that >.> I'm like blind even with glasses..damn xD and it was in big bold print. God..>.< sorrrrrrrrrrrrrryyy

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...It would be rather helpful to know the street it was on. But I doubt it's anywhere Augustin or Charlotte lived without Maximilien, since people don't tend to refer to them as just Robespierre.

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The only detail is that writing on the picture. I tried googling, but to no avail. The chimney to the right looks industrial, and it looks like the ground slopes downwards behind it, so maybe it's on higher ground?

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but the only places..would be ..the Duplay household, him in the rue saintonge and him at the other household that charlotte made him put up>.> man i lived in more places than him..and in a shorter amount of time too. xD like estellacat said..we need the street name, or else we're all drawing blanks.

God i feel accomplished ^^

i wonder if i missed any other places..xD

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Maybe it was somewhere he lived when he was a law student, if he had lodgings outside the college? It may just be wrongly attributed - but I can't see why someone would bother to make a postcard of a random derelict house if there wasn't some sort of connection - unless some guy in a local bar said, 'you know that old house down the road? Robespierre used to live there!' And the photographer's believed him and taken a photo...or it's mixed up, and was his younger brother or sister.

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maybe maybe....i don't remember that even being mentioned but it's a good possibility,( i just thought he lodged at the college etc; and didn't leave.etc)
but i think what you said..it could just be some random house that has nothing to do with robespierre. Sometimes people do that. Or maybe it does have a connection? But you are right..that wouldn't make sense, and it seems like a good waste of time to do that. Somehow, i could say that xD but i doubt people would believe me xD

hmmm..

so many mysteries..

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Unless they want you to buy their postcard!

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True. But approached from that angle, it's as likely to be entirely fabricated.

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This charade can go on no longer...I built that house.

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I knew it!

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Did Robotspierre give it away? He is so mouthy.

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I'm afraid so.

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amie-de-rimbaud.livejournal.com

Ooh, a mystery. I wish I knew--but isn't it fun to try to figure these things out? Sorry to be of no help, but thanks for posting!

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I found an image through Google of another postcard of the same house. It has a few more details. It's a terrible photo, so here's a transcription of the text on it:

"540. PARIS (13^e) - Ancien Hôtel de Le Prêtre de Neufbourg
Construit par Peyre aîné en 1762, habité par Robespierre, et enfin par le Baron de Corvisart"

To the right are the initials J.H. The photographer, perhaps?

I can't quite tell if I got the spelling on the baron's name right. It's a terrible image.

Photograph of postcard (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/FinkerThePenguin/samehotel.jpg)

Edited Date: 2009-07-06 12:54 am (UTC)

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All right, so instead of editing, I'm just going to add a new comment for each new source.

Full Text of Sensations of Paris (http://www.archive.org/stream/sensationsofpari00strouoft/sensationsofpari00strouoft_djvu.txt)

I've got absolutely no idea what this book is about. Parisian scandals or architecture: I'm not sure. That's irrelevant. It discusses in detail the house without ever mentioning Robespierre in Chapter XVI. This book was published in 1910; I'm guessing the photographs on these postcards might be connected.

"Just now the house-breakers are busy upon an ancient mansion in the Boulevard dTtalie [sic] which for tragic dilapidation and solitary sorrowfulness has always seemed to me to have no rival in any capital of Europe."

"dTtalie" is an error for d'Italie. It goes on to say that Boulevard d'Italie is located in the Ivry area of Paris.

"It was originally built in 1762 by Peyre Aine, the Royal architect, as a country house for M. Le Pretre de Neufbourg, one of Louis XV's 'Intendants des Finances.' "

The index of illustrations indicates that included was a photo of "A PARIS EDITION OF 'THE HOUSE OF USHER'," which is Mr. Roland Strong's description of the house on the Boulevard d'Italie. Do note that the house was being destroyed at the time of publication.

Edited Date: 2009-07-06 01:09 am (UTC)

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AND WE HAVE A HOUSE NUMBER.

From Full Text of Promenades dans toutes les rues de Paris (http://www.archive.org/stream/promenadesdansto13rochuoft/promenadesdansto13rochuoft_djvu.txt)

"N° 68. Emplacement d'un hôtel délabré orné d'une colonnade et de statues, démoli en 1909. Cette ancienne folie avait été construite en 1762 par Peyre l'aîné pour le financier Le Prêtre de Neufbourg. On disait dans le quartier que ce vieux logis avait servi de rendez-vous de chasse à Napoléon I". Corvisart y logea. Il fut occupé par la blanchisserie des hôpitaux. Pendant la Commune il servit de refuge aux fédérés. Malgré son état de délabrement, cette folie gardait encore une intéressante silhouette, qui avait plus de poésie certes que l'horrible mur du métro que nous voyons en face. Cet intéressant pavillon a été démoli à la lin de 1909 et M. Rodin, qui avait eu ici son atelier pendant quelque temps, s'est rendu acquéreur des boiseries du salon et des deux statues qui décoraient la façade." (emphasis mine)

I would say that all the details check out: that's our house.

However, apparently, the name of the street has been changing over the years.

"En 1864 tout le boulevard prit le nom de boulevard d'Italie qu'il conserva jusqu'en 1905."

In 1905, the Boulevard d'Italie became the Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, which it remains to this day.

Important details as to what it would have been called when Robespierre would have been staying there:

"La partie comprise entre la place d'Italie et la rue de la Glacière porta le nom de boulevard des Gobelins en 1760."

Helpful map to illustrate (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=68+boulevard+Auguste-Blanqui,+place+d%27italie,+paris&sll=37.579413,-95.712891&sspn=52.73783,70.751953&ie=UTF8&z=16)

This may seem confusing because there is currently an Avenue des Gobelins north of the Place d'Italie, but I'm going to take the book's word for it. Any mention of a Robespierre staying there would most likely have been in relation to 68 Boulevard des Gobelins.

Okay, I'm going to go finish watching Danton. If no one has done the historical Google legwork for this when I finish, I'll take a look.

Edited Date: 2009-07-06 01:28 am (UTC)

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Goodness! That was thorough and helpful. :o

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Why thank you! I quite enjoy over-researching.

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yeah =) thank you. I wouldn't like to do that kind of work..i'm kind of lazy..xD and get easily distracted.

But that is extremely helpful ^^

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Well done! An address and a history!It's a wonderful looking place - shame it's gone, but not unexpected looking at the state of it (there's a similar looking building in Oxford, which has a bridge - Folly Bridge - named after it, and has statues in alcoves on the front). If it was a posh/aristocratic dwelling or hunting lodge before the revolution I suppose it's possible/probable that it was requisitioned for housing during the revolution, and it's interesting that the other postcard mentions Robespierre's name, too (I've read that Tom Paine was living in a house with a garden and animals in 1793, which sounds similar). I suppose the thing to do now is to keep an eye out for 'Boulevard des Gobelins' in letters when reading history books...

The House of Usher...that's what someone's called our house: it's falling apart!

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It's rather picturesque. Maybe, the building in Oxford and this house are from the same architectural style. Originally, I thought the postcards might be part of a set, but the serial number would be the same in that case, so I'm probably wrong there. It doesn't seem like the sort of place Maximilien Robespierre would stay, though. A bit ostentatious for his taste, perhaps?

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I must say, I've never heard of Maximilien staying anywhere in Paris other than the Rues Saint-Honoré, Florentin, and Saintonge. I suppose anything's possible for Augustin and Charlotte though.

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Not one of the sources I found in relation to the house so much as mentioned a Robespierre staying there, and I couldn't dig up anything through Google. I think it's probably just meant to sell the postcards.

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You're probably right, though something could still turn up. :/

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Like it has been said..i extremely doubted it has anything to do robespierre since we do know where he stayed at in paris..but like you say..it something could turn up. Dunno about it.

really doubt it

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I've come across signatures and pictures/medals of Augustin being sold as Maximilien, so from a 'marketing' point of view I could see why a local tradition that it was, say, Augustin who lived there, might translate into Maximilien. Depressingly, I wonder how many of Augustin's - or, indeed, Charlotte's, letters have been cut up over the decades, and their contents lost, so antique dealers could sell the signatures!

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that sounds so HORRIBLE to even imagine. I don't even think they looked alike..so yeah; good thing for those people. All that history lost..>.> that is depressing.

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