Avenue de l’Opéra is a road in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements of Paris (France). It is one of the major projects of the Second Empire in Paris.
Location and access
It starts from Place André-Malraux, in front of the Comédie-Française theater and joins Boulevard des Capucines at the Opéra Garnier, Place de l’Opéra. Unique among the major avenues of Paris, this artery does not have any trees in order to provide the best possible perspective on the main facade of the Opera.
It is a radial route which allows, coming from the Salle Garnier district, to approach the center of Paris or to cross towards the left bank via the Carrousel bridge. Very popular with tourists, it is home to numerous travel agencies, souvenir shops and banks.
This street is served by the Opéra, Pyramides and Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre metro stations.
Main attractions
No. 5: location of the Republican Circle.
No 6: location of the former Gellé Frères perfumery.
No. 10: the art critic Félix Fénéon lived there from 1931 to 1941.
No. 11: location of the headquarters of the Compagnie des mines de Carmeaux, in front of which the anarchist terrorist Émile Henry placed a bomb on November 8, 1892. Discovered by the police, it was transported to rue des Bons-Enfants and exploded there.
No. 13: headquarters of the Le Siècle club.
No. 19: location of the premises of the Compagnie Coloniale tea house. During the First World War, the municipality of Reims, in exile, held its first municipal council there on April 19, 1918. A plaque pays homage to this event.
At No. 20 (or 21, according to some sources) was the Salle du Guide, or Salle du Guide du Concert, where concerts and conferences took place. It took its name from the Concert Guide, a publication (1910-1966) whose director was Gabriel Bender (1884-1964).
No 22: location of the former Hôtel des deux mondes, which closed in 1940 and was the post-war headquarters of the American secret services. In 1936 a commemorative plaque was placed on the facade, recalling that the “National Committee of Romanian Unity” sat in the hotel between January 1917 and June 1919.
No. 23: location of a former Au gain petit department store, today replaced by a Monoprix store. Exterior decoration remains.
No. 26: location of the Commercial Bank for Northern Europe, which financed communist activities supported by the USSR until 1946.
No. 28: location of the former Goldscheider galleries, art publisher (decorative arts), established at this address in the 1890s.
No. 31: a Bouillon Duval restaurant was located there in the 19th century.
No. 32: old cinema closed in March 1991. In 1967, Georges Peynet renovated the room.
No. 36: Consulate General of the United States in the 1900s.
No. 37: Brentano’s bookstore; founded in 1895, it is, with Galignani, one of the oldest English-speaking booksellers in Paris.
No. 38: commemorative plaque recalling that at this place the peacekeeper Michel Guillois died for the Liberation of Paris on August 20, 1944.
No. 49: commemorative plaque indicating that in this building, in 1887, press boss James Gordon Bennett junior founded the European edition of the New York Herald, which would become the International Herald Tribune.
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