Aging or Ageless?

Notre Dame Cathedral is celebrating its 850th anniversary with ceremonies and special Mass. Eight-hundred-fifty-years is an overwhelming number to think about — that, as France24.com put it, “Like a true Parisienne, age has not withered her. Eight and a half tumultuous centuries have left one of the jewels of Gothic architecture with barely a wrinkle, but plenty of stories to tell.”

It’s getting a bit of a facelift to mark the milestone — with nine new bells to replace four that were taken out of service at the start of last year, new improved lighting, a viewing platform and a renovated organ. (Everyone is invited to join the celebration of 850 years of Notre-Dame de Paris. Visit Notre Dame de Paris 2013 for more information.)

Notre Dame stands on what we know in Paris as “Kilometer Zero” — from which all distances in France are measured. It’s located on the Île de la Cité, one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine and where the medieval city was re-founded. It is home now to the city’s Prefecture de Police, Palais de Justice, Hôtel-Dieu hospital and Tribunal de Commerce along with just a few residences.

History of the island dates back to 52 BC, at the time of Vercingetorix’s struggle with Julius Caesar, when a small Gallic tribe known as the Parisii, lived on the island. From this, the city acquired its name. In the 10th-century, a cathedral was built — the predecessor of Notre-Dame. Wooden bridges linked the island to the left and right banks until 1378 when the first stone bridge was built were Pont Saint-Michel is now. Homes built on the bridge were destroyed in 1408 by ice and floodwaters. On Pont Notre Dame, some half-timbered houses were demolished in 1786.

Place Dauphine is one of Paris’ most illustrious squares, “laid out in 1609 while the Place des Vosges was still under construction and named for the Dauphin of France, the future Louis XIII.” (Wikipedia.org) The original homes here are built of brick with limestone masonry blocks supported on arcaded stone ground floors and capped by steep slate roofs with dormers. Few tourists even venture into Place Dauphine, but it remains today one of the city’s most desirable residences on a par with Place des Vosges.

Old properties in Paris do not lose their lackluster with time. “Au contraire!” In fact, age is what gives Paris property a true intrinsic value. The older the property, the higher the value. While we Americans might be concerned with ‘old plumbing’ ‘sub-standard electricity’ and ‘cracking walls,’ we Parisians think that’s what makes it even more perfect!

There are three houses in Paris thought to be the oldest. If you Google this, you will find many different answers. Our challenge is to discern which are correct. One of them starts with the Archaeological Crypt Museum at Notre Dame — where what’s left of the ground floor was originally built in the early 1200s by a mason/sculptor working on the construction of Notre Dame. But, I don’t count this one, as it’s not a residence today — a property you could purchase and enjoy.

The half-timbered house at 3, rue Volta (3rd arrondissement) could easily be the oldest house in Paris dating from the end of the 13th-century. Larousse Dictionary says it is without a doubt. If the date is true, then that makes it a mere 200 years younger than Notre Dame. The Ile de France Regional Council’s official Guide du Patrimoine says it’s from the first half of the 17th-century. This I doubt, when comparing it to architecture of the 17th-century that stands in Paris today — such as my own apartment building!

On the ground level today is a Vietnamese Pho Soup restaurant (Song Heng) that always has a queue outside — whether for the quality of the soup or the fact that the house is old. I visited the top level once (4th floor) when it was for sale and considered purchasing it for fractional ownership. The smaller-than-the-other windows in the building and high level without an elevator deterred us from proceeding with the purchase. It was not particularly more expensive than others in the neighborhood, so for someone wanting intrinsic value in their property, this would have been a good investment.

Others to lay claim to significant age are the two half-timbered buildings at numbers 11 and 13 rue François Miron (4th arrondissement) claiming to date from the 14th-century. These buildings have since been joined as one and an elevator installed. An apartment on the third floor came available a couple of years ago that we knew about via the real estate agent who also owned an apartment in the building. It was a mere 18 square meters, but was move-in ready, with exposed beams and large windows overlooking the street. Our client was keen to purchase it until his wife vetoed the purchase for reasons outside of investment logic. It was snatched up before I could personally lay claim on it, and to this day, I am scarred from having lost it as a viable vacation rental in our own “bouquet” of properties. Property like this is not often available on the market!

A third house in Paris is openly promoted as the oldest house as it’s thought to date back to the beginning of the 14th-century. Nicolas Flamel, a notary who suddenly acquired considerable wealth as a benefactor to no less than 14 hospitals, seven churches and three chapels used a good part of his fortune to build a house at 51, rue de Montmorency (3rd arrondissement) in 1407 as a boarding house for indigents. Not such a delightful character, he is thought to have also acquired wealth from Jews who had been expelled from France. In contrast, he is reputed for his work in alchemy, having learned the art from a Jewish convert on the road to Santiago de Compostela! He and his wife, Perenelle, are said to have achieved immortality through the “Elixir of Life.” Today, there is a restaurant in the house known as the Auberge Nicolas Flamel.

Recently we offered several apartments for sale located next to Notre Dame at Kilometer Zero. These apartments, like Notre Dame itself, will stand the test of time and hold their value thanks to their age and intrinsic value. Their prices were recent
ly reduced to sell quickly, so now’s a great time to take this seriously. For more information, visit: French Property Insider.

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds
Editor, French Property Insider

Email: [email protected]

 P.S. FPI issues #49 #50 will be published on December 13th and 27th with no issue on December 20th as I’ll be traveling to the U.S.: New York (to be with my daughter), Los Angeles (to take advantage of L.A. weather and visit old friends) and New Orleans (to attend my 73 year-old sister’s wedding!). This will complete our 10th year of publishing French Property Insider’s 50 issues a year — that makes 250 great issues. If you have friends who are not receiving it and think they would benefit from this free publication, forward this email to them now and tell them to visit frenchpropertyinsider.com to read more and subscribe!