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Street in Occitania, France From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine (in Occitan: carrièra d'Alsacia-Lorena) is a road in Toulouse, capital of the Occitania, in the South of France.
![]() Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine, seen from the corner of rue de Metz . | |
Type | Street |
---|---|
Length | 1,000 m (3,300 ft) |
Location | Toulouse |
Coordinates | 43°36′06″N 1°26′44″E |
It is one of the main routes in Toulouse. Like rue Saint-Rome , it is the city's main shopping street. It is also, with rue de Metz and rue Théodore-Ozenne , one of the main Haussmann arteries of the Ville Rose.
Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine is located on the border between the Capitole and Carmes districts, to the west, and Saint-Étienne and Saint-Georges , to the east, all in sector 1 - Center.
It extends over one kilometer in a straight line facing due north. It arises in the extension of rue du Languedoc at place Rouaix , at the entrance to the Hôtel de Ciron-Fumel . (nearest metro station: Esquirol, line A).
At the height of the Musée des Augustins, it receives on its right side the rue de Metz and borders the east side of the place Esquirol ; she then becomes a pedestrian. It gives rise on its right side to rue Antonin-Mercié and receives rue Genty-Magre on the opposite side. It crosses rue du Fourbastard perpendicularly, before receiving rue Baour-Lormian on its left side; it crosses rue de la Pomme before giving birth on the right to rue du Lieutenant-Colonel-Pélissier then to rue Lapeyrouse .
At the level of square Charles-de-Gaulle which it borders on its eastern side, it crosses rue du Poids-de-l'Huile and rue Lafayette (nearest metro station: Capitole , line A).
After receiving rue John-Fitzgerald-Kennedy on its left side it crosses rue Rivals then rue du Salé which is entirely pedestrian. After giving rise to rue de Bayard on its right side, it receives rue Charles-de-Rémusat and becomes accessible to car traffic again. It ends after reaching rue Bellegarde , boulevard de Strasbourg (nearest metro station: Jeanne-d’Arc, line B).
Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine meets the following roads, in the order of increasing numbers (« L » indicates that the street is on the left, « R » on the right):
In the first development projects of Urbain Maguès , the street is simply designated as Rue Longitudinale – it is the longitudinal breakthrough, with a north-south orientation, as opposed to the Transversal breakthrough, with an east-west orientation (current rue de Metz ). But this name was only provisional. On November 26, 1872, the municipal council of Henri Ebelot decided to name it in honor of Alsace-Lorraine, the two provinces lost following the Franco-German War of 1870 and the disastrous Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871.[1]
Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine was opened between 1869 and 1873, as part of work proposed by Urbain Maguès and approved by the municipal council by one vote.[2]
Under the mandate of Mayor Jean Patras de Campaigno , in 1864, various urban projects were proposed with the aim of restructuring the city center, mainly by creating new traffic routes. On March 24, 1864, the project of the chief engineer of Bridges and Roads, Urbain Maguès , was the last one retained by the Municipal Council. The latter was based on the ideas already proposed by the Capitouls in 1776. It provided for the creation of two large streets 15 meters wide with buildings not exceeding 17.5 meters in height and 8 meters for the extension into the adjacent streets. These two axes were to constitute the new main traffic axes of the city. The first major street, first known as Rue Transversale, would then take the name Rue de Metz. The second street which is perpendicular to it, Rue Longitudinale, will subsequently take the name Rue Alsace-Lorraine on November 26, 1872 by decision of the Municipal Council.[3] This name echoes contemporary events, since it refers to Alsace and Lorraine, two territories which were lost by France in 1871.
The implementation of this project led to numerous expropriations, since it required drilling through the moulons (neighboring houses delimited by street crossings) in the heart of a very dense urban fabric.
As for financing, Mayor Campaigno received help from the Belgian Land Bank which provided the necessary funds.
Despite strong opposition to this project, particularly from the population, the project was still implemented and approved by Imperial decree on June 17, 1868.
The development project began in 1868 with the first land purchases and expropriations. The first houses were built in 1871 on rue Alsace-Lorraine, but it was not until 1878 that the first building on this street was completed. The roadways were completed in 1873.
All these buildings, designed above all for the report, introduced to Toulouse the notion of living in apartments, which was not very widespread before this period. Large stores were planned on all the ground floors of these buildings, which had the effect of attracting luxury businesses.[3]
During the Occupation, the German HVS 564 main liaison staff responsible for administering the occupied territory stayed at the Grand Hôtel de la Poste located at 38 of this street. Today, this building is the headquarters of the Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia.
Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine underwent town planning work in 2007 in preparation for Toulouse's hosting of the 2007 Rugby World Cup and then again in 2012, to become pedestrianized over almost its entire length, from the rue Bayard to place Étienne-Esquirol .
Classified MH (1840, former Augustinian convent), Listed MH (1990, 19th century wing) and Classified MH (2018, all the buildings making up the Musée des Augustins).[4]
The Musée des Augustins is the municipal museum of fine arts. It occupies the buildings of the former Augustinian convent.[5]
A Hôtel particulier was built in the middle of the 17th century for Jean Baptiste de Ciron, lord of Carmaux and president of the parliament of Toulouse. In 1742, it passed to two members of the Roux family , but ten years later it was sold to Count Joseph de Fumel, then, in 1769, it was purchased by the municipality and extensively remodeled to become the residence of the first presidents of the parliament. The French Revolution brought upheavals: in 1790, the parliament was abolished and the town ceded the hotel to the Directory of the Department, which left it in November 1799 to settle in the old archbishopric . Consequently, three years later, following the Concordat, the hotel was assigned to the accommodation of the new archbishops . But a century later, in December 1906, under the law of separation, the Hôtel de l'Archevêché was decommissioned, then sold to the city's Chambre de commerce which took possession of it in 1913.[6]
The consular palace is made up of several buildings between rue d'Alsace-Lorraine (current n°2) and rue Croix-Baragnon (current n°6), facing place Rouaix . In 1921, the architects Barthélémy Guitard and Jean Valette were responsible for the construction of a new building along rue d'Alsace-Lorraine, in order to accommodate shops on the ground floor, two apartments on the mezzanine and a « commercial museum » upstairs. In 1936, the building was extended to the south over three bays, covering the facade of the former Ciron-Fumel hotel. The facade, in neo-classical style, is a pastiche of 18th century Toulouse architecture, playing on the polychromy of cut stone and brick. It extends over ten bays and rises over three levels – ground floor, mezzanine and one floor. The ground floor is pierced by large shop openings which alternate with narrower openings. The entrance doors are located in the side bays. The mezzanine and upper floor are lit by rectangular windows, highlighted by a cut stone frame. The windows on the 1st floor have balconies with balusters, supported by heavy carved consoles. They are topped with sculpted friezes and the frame has a clasp loaded with a large volute. The elevation is crowned with a large cornice with dentils and modillions, topped by a balustrade.[7][8]
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