If you wander around the 7th arrondissement of Paris near the Eiffel Tower, you’ll find an upscale neighborhood full of beautiful buildings, most of them built during the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. For Art Nouveau fans, there’s a special surprise waiting in the form of a stunning entrance to a residential building at 29 Avenue Rapp. The entrance is so beautiful that it earned Jules Lavirotte (1864-1929), the architect who built it, the prize for the most beautiful façade in Paris in 1901. But if you look closely at the entrance and the door, you’ll notice something surprising…
How did a giant phallus end up on an Art Nouveau building near the Eiffel Tower?
Let’s start with the more innocent elements of this gorgeous façade. The woman’s head above the door is the head of Lavirotte’s wife, who lived in the building with her husband. The two figures on the right and left are Adam and Eve, expelled from the Garden of Eden (is this a symbolist message that paradise is happening right inside the building?).
So far, so innocent…
But now let me suggest you step back a little and look closely at the door itself, the windows above it and the wall surrounding it.
What do you see?
It can’t be!
But yes, the wall around the door strongly resembles, and not by accident, a vulva, with the woman’s head positioned more or less where the clitoris would be.
And if that’s still up for debate, take a good look at the windows on the right and left, and then at the door. Pay close attention to the engraving, especially its lower part.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen! This is no mistake. The architect Lavirotte decided that the entrance door to the building he lived in would be shaped like a giant phallus…
But that’s not where Lavirotte’s sexual symbolism ends. As you can see, the door has an iron lizard-shaped fitting. That seems like an innocent decoration, until you learn that the word “lizard” in 19th-century French slang meant a male sex organ…
The question that naturally comes up is whether all these phallic signs were put there on purpose, or whether the phallus is in the eye of the beholder.
Before we continue: recommended cabarets at great prices
An Art Nouveau tour of Paris, following Lavirotte
So who was this Lavirotte, who created this beautiful and unusual building? Jules Lavirotte was born in Lyon in 1864 and studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts, located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Most of his early Art Nouveau buildings were built in the 7th arrondissement, in the area around Avenue Rapp, which makes life easy for anyone walking this tour. Later on, if you want to see more examples of Lavirotte’s buildings, you’ll need to walk (or take the metro) to the 8th arrondissement.
Instead of a map: under the heading of each stop you’ll find its address, and every address is a link. Click it, and the place will open right away in Google Maps.
I’d recommend starting the tour outside the École Militaire metro station and walking west through the Champ de Mars. Yes, this adds a bit to the walk, but in return you’ll get a beautiful view of the park with the Eiffel Tower on the horizon.
Turn right onto Avenue Joseph Bouvard and then left onto Avenue Rapp. Keep going straight along the avenue and take a right until you reach 3 Square Rapp.
3 Square Rapp
This is without a doubt one of the most charming and lesser-known corners of Paris. In this little square you’ll find, at number 3, a building Lavirotte designed in collaboration with Alexandre Bigot, who supplied the gorgeous ceramics that decorate it. Lavirotte himself lived in this building on the fifth floor.
After you’ve finished admiring the building and its very beautiful (and not quite as provocative) door, look at the ceramics on the fourth-floor balcony, and you’ll spot the same familiar phallus from the building at 29 Avenue Rapp. Finally, peek through the gate in the square at the Eiffel Tower on the horizon. You’ve just scored one of the most Parisian, and most beautiful, views you can find in the City of Light.
29 Avenue Rapp
Head back to Avenue Rapp until you reach number 29. We already talked plenty about the door and the phallic symbols on this building, so now it’s worth taking a step back and simply looking at the whole building. You’ll find a real celebration of Art Nouveau in front of you.
Take a good look at Bigot’s beautiful ceramics and at the wild, dazzling Art Nouveau design that earned Lavirotte the prize for the most beautiful façade in Paris in 1901.
12 Rue Sédillot
Keep going straight, then double back onto Rue Sédillot. Continue on until you reach number 12, which now houses an Italian language school.
True, this building is a bit less impressive than Lavirotte’s other buildings, but it’s still a beautiful one, and its gate strongly recalls Romanesque architecture.
So what now?
You might decide that with all the beauty on the streets of Paris, you’ve seen enough architecture for one day. In that case, let me recommend a culinary walking tour following Julia Child, which starts not far from here at all.
But if you want to see more of Lavirotte’s gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings, you’ll need to head to the 8th arrondissement. My recommendation is to take the metro to Charles de Gaulle – Étoile station. If you’d rather not change trains, you can walk to Bir-Hakeim station and take line 6, enjoying the Eiffel Tower again along the way, as well as one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris.
When you reach the Arc de Triomphe, head onto Avenue Wagram until you reach number 34.
34 Avenue Wagram: Hôtel Céramic
In my opinion, this is Lavirotte’s most beautiful building. It’s a wonderful combination of stone and “foliage”. No wonder this unusual façade earned Lavirotte his second award for the finest façade in 1904.
Today the building houses the Elysées Ceramic hotel, a charming 3-star hotel that’s part of my list of recommended hotels in Paris.
After you’re done admiring this gorgeous façade, keep going along the avenue, then turn right onto Avenue des Ternes and from there left onto Avenue Hoche. When you reach the end of the avenue, you’ll see the entrance to Parc Monceau in front of you.
The park isn’t really part of this tour, but I’d still highly recommend going in, since it’s one of the most charming parks in Paris. If you’d rather skip it and continue straight on with the tour, head down Rue de Lisbonne and from there to 23 Avenue de Messine.
23 Avenue de Messine and 6 Rue de Messine
23 avenue de Messine, and 6 rue de Messine
Here you’ll find two later buildings by Lavirotte. These buildings are still quite beautiful, but their style is already more restrained than the earlier buildings he designed.
For the building at 23 Avenue de Messine, Lavirotte won, in 1907, his third and final award for the most beautiful façade in Paris. These two buildings are also the last two that Lavirotte designed in the Art Nouveau style, which makes this a great place to end our tour for now. But if you want to keep exploring the beauty of Art Nouveau in Paris, let me recommend my walking tour of the 9th and 10th arrondissements, since some wonderful architectural surprises are hiding there too, and I’m sure you’ll love them.
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