La Cité des Fleurs

La Cité des Fleurs is a cobbled leafy lane in the 17th arrondissement, aligned on both sides with beautiful houses, each with their own garden. An oasis in an otherwise unremarkable neighbourhood. The history of this gem dates back to 1847 when two developers, Jean-Edmé Lhenry and Adolphe Bacqueville de la Vasserie, apparently bought the piece of land, then called the Villa des Fleurs, and divided it into plots. Building regulations were established specifying the number of stories permitted - two stories plus mansarde - as well as the distance of the building plot from the road. This is what it looks like today.

Here are some photos showing what the houses look like. The designers, while restricted in the number of stories they were allowed to build, made up for it with the details on the facades. They also seem to have bent the rules on the number of floors! Some are very elaborate.

And some are very classic.

As if it isn't idyllic enough, at one end of the Cité is a École maternelle and a crèche.

They have livestock.

They have palm trees!

But perhaps the most amazing thing I saw in La Cité des Fleurs was this cat. Yep it's real, and its' eyes really are like that. 

For the record, it wasn't very friendly.

Here is some more information about La Cité des Fleurs (La Mairie de 17e)

Oh, and Catherine Deneuve was born in La Cité des Fleurs.