Enseignes

This is the building at the end of our street that housed a sign writer (Enseignes) in the 19th century. On the third floor you can see the images used in some of the signs. since only the educated could read, it was the sign writer’s job to write the name of the business and to paint an image that would reveal the meaning of the sign to all observers.

It reminds me of a building in our neighborhood that has a mural of cows painted in the styles of different schools of art. Like the sign writer’s image, the mural has persisted even though Fratelli’s dairy has been gone for years.

-B

rue Maître Albert

Even though it is in the the very center of Paris and on the ground floor, our apartment feels very safe. A little girl likes to stand outside our door and look in when she plays in the courtyard, but her mother tells her to stop. We use four keys and five locks to get into the apartment from the street.

In our well-stocked bookcases I found a copy of Paris Then and Now which shows an Enseignes (sign writer) shop in the place that now sells crepes and sorbet. We can still see the signmaker’s images on the facade of the building. A’s great grandfather was a sign maker and A is addicted to crepes, so a visit there is on the agenda.

Evidently the street (and surrounding area) was nearly destroyed in the 19th century and again after World War II. This last time it was saved because French President Mitterand bought and restored a house on the next street, rue Biévre.

-B