Paris 17th District
Paris 17th district is commonly known as the Quartier des Batignolles-Monceau.
It includes: Quartier de la Plaine Monceau, Quartier des Epinettes, Quartier des Batignolles and Quartier des Ternes.
The area remained largely uninhabited until the 1850s. At the time of the French Revolution, it was primarily a vast hunting ground covered with heath-land and thickets. The construction of the Mur des Fermiers Généraux in the 1780s led to the emergence of small businesses near the toll gates, initiating the development of small communities.
The villages of Ternes, Courcelles, Villiers, Monceau, Batignolles, Epinettes, and Clichy quickly attracted speculators and developers.
The QUARTIER MONCEAU was named after the hamlet of Montchauf (which evolved into Monceau) belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Denis. At the end of the 18th century, the Duke of Chartres, cousin of King Louis XVI, acquired the estate with the intention of building a magnificent private mansion and its park. In the mid-19th century, half of the estate was developed, while the other half became the elegant Parc Monceau.
However, little is known about the origins of the village of Corticella (Courcelles), except that it might have started as a farm attached to the royal mansion of Clichy.
The triangular-shaped QUARTIER DES ÉPINETTES, today known as La Fourche, is delineated by the Avenue de Clichy and the Avenue de Saint-Ouen, which replaced older roads leading to the villages of Clichy and Saint-Ouen west of Paris.
The village of Villiers is part of the QUARTIER DES BATIGNOLLES. It evolved from the Villare, a large farm where the servants attached to the Merovingian kings estate of Clichy. Villiers was part of the commune of Clichy until 1860, when it was annexed to Paris.
The QUARTIER DES TERNES evolved from the village of Rolus, which was divided into two hamlets. Haut-Roule developed around the Château des Ternes, and Bas-Roule near a leper colony known as the Hôtel du Bas-Roule. The latter, densely populated, became a parish at the end of the 17th century when the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule was built.
The districts of Épinettes, Batignolles and Plaine de Monceau were part of the commune of Batignolles-Monceau until 1860, when they were annexed to Paris.
Paris 17th district, a dual identity
The districts of Monceau and part of Batignolles were developed during Haussmann‘s renovation of Paris to meet the needs of the wealthy bourgeoisie. Wide, straight avenues, luxurious buildings, and a railway line were then constructed.
The wealthy bourgeoisie settled in the southwest, near Malesherbes, Monceau, Courcelles, Villiers, Ternes and Porte Maillot. Épinettes, located near Clichy, has maintained its high population density. Craftsmen and railway workers, for their part, regrouped in the north and east, closer to the densely populated 18th arrondissement.
This characteristic bipolarity continues to shape the character of Paris 17th district.
Metro stations serving Paris 17th District
Line 1: Porte Maillot, Argentine, Charles de Gaulle-Etoile
Line 2: Place de Clichy, Rome, Villiers, Monceau, Courcelles, Ternes, Charles de Gaulle-Etoile
Line 3: Villiers, Malesherbes, Wagram, Porte de Champerret
Line 13: Porte de St-Ouen, Guy Moquet, La Fourche, Place de Clichy, Porte de Clichy, Brochant
