The oldest house in Paris - Debates and controversies

As history tells us, the beautiful French capital started in the Gallic Lutèce, which only occupied the Ile de la Cité during the annexation of the city to the Roman Empire. Since then and after the Antiquity period and the Middle Ages, the city has extended and passionate builders such as Baron Haussmann, who wanted Paris to start afresh, profoundly defined its real estate heritage. After two millenniums of history, as rich as it was tormented, it makes sense for Parisians to wonder: what is the oldest house in their city? A question not as simple as it seems, and still subject to controversy.

The surrounding properties of Rue Miron in Paris, two nominations that are as ideal as they are aesthetically pleasing

For anyone who likes to stride along the medieval streets of the 3rd district, the half-timbered facades of the houses at number 11 and 13 of Rue Miron inevitably have a quaint taste of the Middle Ages. They are mansions from the Saint-Paul area that survived the widening of the streets conducted by Baron Haussmann at the end of the 19th century.

Some archives evoke the original presence of a gable on the facade of number 13, characterised by the presence of the sign of the reaper profession. This indicates that it was built in the late 15th or early 16th century, as from 1508, a royal ordinance prohibited those type of constructions, because the risk of collapse was too great.

Paris
- Les propriétés voisines de la rue Miron.jpg

3 rue Volta in Paris, an illusion maintained since the Second Empire

The beautiful medieval house of 3 Rue Volta, in the 3rd district of Paris, should not still be standing today. In fact, it is the tenacity of the historian Lucien Lambeau who helped to avoid its destruction under the Second Empire. At that time already, it was said that this half-timbered house was the oldest of the French capital. This urban legend did not last as the myth fell in the late 1970s.

The discovery of a notarial sale act of the house dated 1654, making explicit mention of the construction of the building 10 years earlier on a virgin ground, came to put an end to the deception. Benjamin Dally, a bourgeois who probably became rich through his carpentry work, had erected his home in the mid-17th by reproducing the medieval model. This is a clear sign that nostalgia is not limited to one period of history.

The oldest house in Paris can be found at Rue de Montmorency

The name of Nicolas Flamel always evokes something familiar in France. In fact, he is this supposed alchemist who supposedly discovered the philosopher's stone, allowing him to change lead into gold. A less known fact is that he was the owner of the oldest known house in Paris. Located at number 51 of Rue de Montmorency, in the Marais area, the house was built in 1407.

Nicolas Flamel, a bourgeois whose wealth was scandalous in his time, was actually a true real estate expert. Indeed, he likely built a significant part of his immense fortune through the management of properties belonging to Jews expelled from the Kingdom of France. Unfortunately, having been the target of successive renovations over the centuries, the home that we can see today probably shares little resemblance to the original.

In the end, people’s passion for old houses and the work of historians to find the truth have both fueled the debate surrounding the identity of the oldest house in the City of Lights. The preservation movement of the medieval houses appeared in the second half of the 19th century, at the same time as the great works of Baron Haussmann, and presented medieval facades as aesthetically misleading. Nevertheless, recent research has definitively crowned Nicolas Flamel's house as the oldest in the city. Will new discoveries surface later?

Read also : Architectural styles in Paris

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The oldest house in Paris - Debates and controversies

The surrounding properties of Rue Miron in Paris, two nominations that are as ideal as they are aesthetically pleasing

3 rue Volta in Paris, an illusion maintained since the Second Empire

The oldest house in Paris can be found at Rue de Montmorency

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We know the true value of your property

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The oldest house in Paris - Debates and controversies

The surrounding properties of Rue Miron in Paris, two nominations that are as ideal as they are aesthetically pleasing

3 rue Volta in Paris, an illusion maintained since the Second Empire

The oldest house in Paris can be found at Rue de Montmorency ​

We are protecting our website and your privacy.

We know the true value of your property

We are protecting our website and your privacy.

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The oldest house in Paris can be found at Rue de Montmorency