New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-28
PARIS HOUSE NUMBERING
When 1t Began-Practice an the
Past and at Present.
Paris. May 20.


published an original and curious little work.
in which he sets forth the results Of his re-
searches into the numbering Of houses IN the
capital in past times. he has satisfactorily
esia bishcd that several houses still! exist wFllcn
bear the very numbers given to them long ago.
IN the days when the great central ooulevaroS
Of to-day were the limits OF the city
1t is known that the practice OF numbering
houses dates back TO the year 1925 Before
thai epoch. so early es 1912, The seventy-eight
houses built upon the bridge OF Notre Dame
were numbered but for some reason no other
buildings in the ancient city shared the dis
tInction At the beginning OF the eighteenth
century a decree was issued by LOUIS Nv.
which prescribed that all houses then exlstlhS
in the faux bourgs" outside the city walls
should be numbered. The measure had an IN
quisitorial object
The King and his advisers found themselves
confronted by problem the very opposite OF
that with which municipal authorities OF the
rresent dav have to struggle. They noticed a
tendency on the part Of the citizens to trans
port their families and goods out Of the crar4peo
and circu.nscribed limits Of Paris and TO estao-
lish themselves IN the surrounding country pc
,-ond its gates Thus faux bourss," or SUD-
,rbs were springing UP all round the CITY,
forming. in the opinion of the monarch a serl-
Gus obstacle 20 the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and pros
a ROYAL eiict forbade the construction OF any
more houses outside the city walls. and, TO IN
s,,rs he carrying cut of his decree, existing
bo,,ses were TO be carefully numbered anu
their sum total registered IN the city archlVes.
Here for nearly century the matter rested
and the city built up on the Isle ST. LOUIS III
the middle Of the Seine, became maze OF mar
row crooked alleys, with high, irreguIarly puliI
houses in the construction Of which no attempt
81
the window tax forced the architects TO be very
spar.ng Of openings toward the street front anu
indeed, the totally undreined condition OF Hisli-
,-avs and byways alike must have made those
It1z1IrJes doubtful advantage. Most OF these
old rookeries have disappeared uhoer tNe
regime of Baron Haussmann and his successors
in the work Of identifying Paris but some -8ii
EXAMPLES nay still be seen in the district known
rs the ''AIarais" COR marsh, in the nelshoo'I.O
Of the handsome Gothic building with It's htl0
outstanding turrets in which the public archives
gre now housed
II was not till after the Revolution hao
raesed Ike a destructive tornado over the city
That the constructive genius of Napoleon
brought some semblance Of order into tho
chaotic streets. In 1905 he established an eX-
ceIlent system. All streets running parallel WIN
+7- Seine were numbered in large figures painted
on a bright red ground, while those at rlght
angles with the stream were numbered IN pIach'
T,o-7 numbers were placed on the right side OF
streets parallel with the river following the
direction Of the current; in those at right angles
-,--e,, z,c,,lar with the Seine. even numbers
were still on the right starting from the nearest
,oirr "a the water This part Of the Emperors
system has been retained. but there is no longer
The change Of color 10 indicate the dlrecuoh Oh
the street. Several houses are still standing on
which the original label OF 1860 may be seen
Ore, at the corner of the Rue Brise-Miche iately
scrsDod and reDainted. was discovered to pos
sess- q metal label, bearing the number 80 IN
large white characters on red ground with
green border the whole measuring 61aXo inches.
Nothing could have been more perplexing to
q stranger in the city than the way IN whlch
the numbers We're distributed in the dlnerehI
streets For convenience Of numbering, Inc
whole surface was divided up into districts. and
the number ! was then attached arbitrarily 10
some particular house in each district Num-
hers then followed each other, in a stralght1or-
ward u2anner-the odd on one side and the even
on the other. according 10 the position Of the
street with relation to the Seine-untl a passage
or alley interviewed. Then the numbers ran ROUND
the corner and up such passages returning
fnallz. 70 the street from which they had started
and continuing in ii until some fresh Interrupt
ton should occur In this way there might be
q gap OF several scores between the numbers OF
two neighboring houses in the street At
The same time il must be borne IN mind that
no streets in Paris were very long. The Rue
LAFAYETTE, the longest now existing here, con-
tains only few hundreds Of houses, and does
not compare with the many magnificent streets
Of the new cities of America where the numbers
Of the great. tail houses run into thousands and
the avenues stretch far the eye can see in
apparently endless perspective.
Modern improvements. and the exigencies Of
the modern postal service have swept away most
Of the irregularities Of ancient Paris. One. how
which the number IL is carefully avoided. the
thirteenth house bearing instead the number
i bis But in Italy, this superstition-the relic
Of The superstitious Middle Ages-gOes much
further There is scarcely a landlord in Rome
who ventures to have the number l3 inscribed
on his portals for so general IS the belief in its
unIuclIness that hardly family would occupy
q house so qualified This IN a land which con-
tains so many believers IN the Evil Eye" is less
surprising than it is in France. where the char
aCter Of the people IS erninently practical.
But even the matter Of fact Germans nourish
this particular superstition. It is only a short
time since a merchant Of Berlin made an app-
cation to the municipal suthQrties TO get the
rurnbeT OF his shop changed from the I'll omened
Is 70 II bis, and although the magistrate secuted
the mans request ii does not seem TO have been
considered foolish by his fsllow townsmen. In
Frankfort the authorities are less unmanage-
able, and tenants have difficulty IN getting
the obnoxious number removed from their doors.
c. L B.