La cour Most French urban structures are built in a square, around a courtyard. It may also be just a playground for the children of the concierge or a passageway to the back section of the building. La concierge The concierge in Paris, almost always a Portuguese or Spanish wife and husband team crammed into a tiny apartment in the entranceway of the better Parisian apartments, plays a unique role in daily French life. The Law of 1948 imposed rent controls which has limited the rapid improvement of buildings and thus helped institutionalize the concierge. Their principal tasks include shining the brass in the entranceway, distributing the mail in the building, cleaning the stairwells, doing minor repairs, carting out the garbage cans, receiving packages, etc.
Concierges are very valuable allies and very powerful enemies.
If problems arise over such things as noise after 22h, your concierge can often prevent or instigate much unpleasantness. Almost all buildings, even commercial and public ones, have live-in concierges or gardiens, who keep an eye on things. North Americans find it unusual to see a family live in a small flat off the lobby of a public school. With the increased installation of securite systems, digicodes, interphones, and modern elevators, concierges are becoming redundant with over 2000 positions being eliminated each year in Paris. Although this may seem odd at first, it's rather practical.