Abreuvoir street in Montmartre, quiet, romantic, from another time

The Abreuvoir street is located on the Butte Montmartre in Paris, in the Grandes-arrières district of the 18th arrondissement. It has a discreet country charm. It is probably the most photographed street in Montmartre, for several reasons, from the Maison Rose located at number 2 to the perspective on the Sacré Coeur from the Allée des Brouillards and the Place Dalida.

Origin of the street: in 1325

This street originates from an alley mentioned, as early as 1325, under the name of "ruelle qui va au But". The "But" was the fountain of this same name which would be nowadays Place Constantin-Pecqueur

In 1672, this way is indicated as a road on the plan of Albert Jouvin de Rochefort of 1672. Finally, in 1843, it was called "chemin de l'Abreuvoir" because of the path that led to the old Montmartre watering place located at the corner of rue Girardon. Gérard de Nerval wrote in 1854: "What attracted me above all in this small space sheltered by the large trees of the Château des Brouillards, was (...) the vicinity of the drinking trough, which in the evening comes alive with the spectacle of horses and dogs being bathed there, and a fountain built in the ancient style, where the washerwomen talk and sing as in one of the first chapters of Werther.

The abreuvoir, the Moulin Radet and the Moulin de la Galette

Right next to the location of the abreuvoir and its fountain, which no longer exist, stands the Villa Radet (or Villa du Radet), a superb residence from the early 20th century. It is named after the mill of the same name that was moved to the corner of rue Lepic and rue Girardon and renamed (wrongly) Moulin de la Galette. Note that it is the only odd number (15) of the street that borders the gardens of the Cité Internationale des Arts and the Folie Sandrin.

Points of memory of the Abreuvoir street

• It is in this  Abreuvoir street that begins the novel Les Sabines, by the writer Marcel Aymé, who actually lived nearby. Sabine had the gift of ubiquity. She could multiply and be at the same time, of body and spirit, in as many places as she wished.
• No. 2: the Pink House, ( Maison Rose) represented by many painters, including Utrillo.
• No 4: sundial.  It is also the house of Commandant Henry Lachouque (1883-1971), military man and historian of Napoleon's campaigns. The building is remarkable for its atypical architecture, made of stones with exposed beams. Note its decoration: stone eagles (which gave their name to the house), a statuette of the Virgin Mary at the bottom of a niche painted in blue depicting a sky dotted with stars and the sundial on which can be read the motto "Quand tu sonneras, je chanteray". The final Y gives an old look, whereas the sundial was engraved in 1924, the year the house was built. As for the upside down N in the word "when", it is certainly a nod to the Cyrillic alphabet. Although Commandant Lachouque was more particularly devoted to the history of the First Empire, he also had Napoleon's house restored at Longwood in 1934.
• N° 6 : it seems that the painter Georges Bottini lived there
• N°12 : in this small building built in 1883 lived Camille Pissaro who rented a pied-à-terre there between 1888 and 1892.
• N°14: it was a grocery-bar called Maison Georges, taken over in 1924 by Mr. and Mrs. Baillot who gradually transformed it into a restaurant and renamed it the Abreuvoir. During World War II and the occupation, it is said that during the war the couple hid the zinc top of the counter behind a plaster wall. The idea was to hide it from the Germans who requisitioned all the metals to melt them. After the war, it was at the Abreuvoir that the participants of the "dinner of the last square of Montmartre" met. The restaurant closed permanently in 1957 and was transformed into a house by the son Baillot. He gave the famous counter to the Montmartre Museum, where it can still be seen today.
• No 16, rue Girardon (corner of the two streets) : Villa Radet, Montmartre site of the Cité internationale des arts, located on the site of the old watering hole of the village of Montmartre, which still existed in 1854, when Gérard de Nerval wrote: "What seduced me above all in this small space sheltered by the large trees of the Château des Brouillards, is [...] the proximity of the watering hole which, in the evening, comes alive with the spectacle of horses and dogs being bathed [...]."
• No 18, rue de l'Abreuvoir (place Dalida): place of shooting of Patate, film of Robert Thomas (1964) with Pierre Dux, Danielle Darrieux and Jean Marais.