Welcome to 6 Rue Jacob

Touring the apartment and wandering the neighborhood

The stories behind the art

Rue Jacob where the American Revolutionary War ended and the Lost Generation began

This little gem is our home away from home in the heart of the 6th Arrondissement on the Left Bank in Paris. 

It is two blocks from the church St. Germain-des-Pres, the oldest church in Paris, Les Deux Magots, the Cafe de Flore, and the Brasserie Lipp, all well-known Paris literary cafes (see the history below). It is also a block away from the Rue du Buci, famous for dozens of restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries open for morning cappuccinos and fresh croissants or midnight dining. 

And being in the heart of the 6th, it is a stroll away from the Seine where, depending on the direction you take, it is a 15 minute to 20 minute walk to the Musee D’Orsay, the Louvre Pyramid, or the newly refurbished Notre Dame Cathedral – a sight to behold. 

The newly renovated apartment is in a building from the early 1800s, on the French first floor (American second floor) with a European sized elevator, facing a quiet street of designer shops and high-end antique stores. When in the elevator, push 1 and turn left to the apartment. 

The gracious living room has a queen-sized sofa bed with a new mattress, an equipped kitchen containing a refrigerator, an oven and microwave combination, and a dishwasher – but really – who comes to Paris to cook! 

There is an island in the kitchen where you can set up your computer with a conveniently located plug just to the side, and a round table with seating for four. 

There is also a conveniently located powder room as you enter, for use of those who may sleep in the living room, so anyone in the bedroom won’t be disturbed during a nap or in the middle of the night. 

The separate bedroom suite has a hallway door for privacy from the rest of the apartment, a new king-sized bed, a full bath with a walk-in shower and separate bathtub, available closets for guests, and a washing machine. 

Thermostats control both central air conditioning and hot water radiator heat. There is fast Wi-Fi. 

We share our apartment with family and friends. All transactions are done only in the United States – upon your return and only in US dollars - so feel free to share the website. 

We have an amazing American woman, Suzanne Flenard, who oversees the apartment for us, who will meet you as you arrive, give you a tour to show you how everything works, and be available should you have questions or concerns. Suzanne speaks fluent French and has lived in Paris for the last 15 years. She is an amazing resource. 

There is a one-time $200.00 meet and greet fee, which also covers the cleaning and linen charges, and a nightly rate of $200.00, which is a fraction the cost of the surrounding neighborhood hotels. Smoking is absolutely not allowed. 

The apartment is outfitted with adapters for American plugs in almost every outlet (which we ask you to leave), but you should travel with your own charging cords. 

For your convenience, in case you have forgotten anything, in the powder room there are a variety of airline amenity kits and shampoos, and hotel slippers in the bedroom should you want them. 

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions. If you are planning a trip to Paris and the attached pictures entice you, let us know, and we can check availability. 

Bonne Planification!!

Mary Nell and Barry

THE STORIES BEHIND THE ART  

The Vestal Virgin (the wooden piece to the right of the fireplace) is from the late 1800s. 

The Collegium of Vestals: Dedicated to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, home, and family, the Vestals were responsible for maintaining the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum. Romans believed this fire was vital to the safety and continuity of the Roman state; if the fire went out, it was considered a dire omen that Rome had lost the favor of the gods.

There were only six Vestals at any one time, and they served for 30 years: First 10 years: Two novices learn their duties, Second 10 years: Two performed the Vestal duties, Third 10 years: The remaining two train new novices.

They were the “Women’s Lib” of their era, holding rights and privileges that were virtually unheard of for other Roman women: they could own property, write their own wills, conduct their own business, and had a seat of honor at public games and events. 

If a Vestal was found to have broken her vow of chastity, the punishment was notoriously severe. Because Roman law strictly forbade spilling the blood of a Vestal Virgin, they were buried alive in a specially prepared underground chamber outside the city walls, stocked with food and water to provide a semblance of mercy and avoid the direct guilt of execution, while still effectively condemning the priestess to death.

The Chinese Mandarin and His Two Wives (date unknown)

A Chinese Mandarin (a government official in Imperial China) generally had only one formal wife, but he could have multiple concubines. Confucian values placed an immense emphasis on family lineage and the duty to produce male heirs to carry on the family name and perform ancestral rites. If a wife could not produce a son, taking concubines was the accepted solution.

Concubinage was predominantly a practice of the wealthy, powerful, and elite, such as mandarins, landlords, and merchants, because it was expensive to support additional women and their children (you think!!!). For a mandarin, having multiple concubines was a sign of his prestige, prosperity, and ability to manage a large household.

In this painting, notice how the clever artist painted both the older wife and the young concubine with the same face of the same age, so as not to embarrass the older wife with the contrast to the younger concubine. 

Antoinette Poster (to the left of the fireplace) an original poster from the early 1900s

The Antoinette Company (active from 1903 to 1912) pioneered groundbreaking work in engine design that is used to this day. It was founded by engineer Léon Levavasseur, who is credited with designing one of the first successful V-8 engines, the preferred choice for early speedboat racers, cars, and aviation pioneers (all seen in the poster) as well as early forms of manifold fuel injection and evaporative cooling. 

The 1900 Paris Exposition (Exposition Universelle of 1900) an original poster from 1900. 

The poster in the front hall advertised tourist guides for the World’s Fair, celebrating the new century and the progress yet to come. On the shelves across from the poster there are actual advertised guides printed in 1900 and in English. 

The previous exhibition was in 1889 and featured an amazing wrought iron structure, the Eiffel Tower named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel. 

There was a raging controversy about keeping or tearing down the Eiffel Tower. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" protested “…with all our strength…against the erection ... of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower ... a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream.” 

Turns out they were wrong. 

THE BEDROOM 

“High Heels and the Eiffel Tower” over the bed 

This photograph was made by Peter Turnley, a world-renowned photographer who has captured the worst of war around the world and the best of Paris, his home for 50 years. His book “Paris, Je t’aime” (Paris, I Love You) is on the coffee table in the living room. You can order the book directly from him at peterturnley.com 

Barry’s two stories on Peter are on YouTube. Search “Paris photographer on CBS Saturday Morning” and “Paris photographer on CBS Weekend News”. 

Air France Amerique de Sud (Air France to Rio de Janeiro) Original Art Deco poster from 1946 

History from a poster gallery: This is one of the most iconic of the Air France posters. A DC-4 Constellation propeller plane prepares for landing in Rio de Janeiro landscape. The DC-4 was the main production airliner in the postwar time period. The artist is Victor Vasarely (1908-1997), the famous painter known mostly for his abstract works. When Vasarely first moved to Paris from Hungary in the 1930s and '40s, he worked as an illustrator to pay the bills. This is the only example of a work by Vasarely for Air France, and is distinctive in its difference in style than what many know him for today.”

Rue Jacob’s where the American Revolutionary War ended and the Lost Generation began

Rue Jacob is one of the most historically rich streets in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. Tracing its origins back eight centuries, it played a pivotal role in the American Revolutionary War, world literature (think Hemingway), and global culture.

American Diplomacy and the Treaty of Paris

The street’s most significant global event was the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized American independence.

In 1783, the British Embassy was located at 44 Rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, now the Hôtel d'Angleterre (The Hotel of England). 

• Significance:     This Embassy was used by British and Americas diplomats during  negotiations for the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War.

• The Signing: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay refused to sign the final treaty on British territory, since the British Embassy, like every embassy in the world, is considered the territory of  that country. The treaty was actually signed on September 3, 1783, at the York Hotel located a few doors down at 56 Rue Jacob. 

• The "Unfinished" Painting: After the signing, the Americans sat for a commemorative portrait by Benjamin West. However, the British delegates, embarrassed by the defeat, refused to pose. To this day, the famous painting, which hangs in the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, remains a lopsided masterpiece with a blank white canvas where the British should be.

A Home for the "Lost Generation"

In the 20th century, Rue Jacob became a magnet for the "Lost Generation", a term coined by Gertrude Stein and popularized by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises: "You are all a lost generation." “Lost” refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" generation’s spirit of many of the war's survivors in the period between WWI and WWII, who rejected the materialism of the Roaring Twenties. 

· Upon arriving in Paris in 1921, Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, stayed at the 

Hôtel d'Angleterre (44 Rue Jacob). 

• Natalie Barney’s Salon (20 Rue Jacob): For over 60 years,  American writer Natalie Clifford Barney hosted a legendary literary salon in her garden pavilion. It was a sanctuary for progressive thinkers and writers like Colette and Ezra Pound.

• Shakespeare and Company: A short walk away at 12 Rue de l'Odéon, Sylvia Beach’s original bookstore location served as a library and social club for Hemingway, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Beach was a vital patron, often lending Hemingway money or books he couldn't afford. The bookstore is now at 7 Rue de la Bûcherie. 

The Final Days of Oscar Wilde 

Two blocks north of Rue Jacob, at 13 Rue des Beaux-Arts, the legendary wit Oscar Wilde spent his final days in the Hôtel d'Alsace (now simply "L'Hôtel" which has a commemorative plaque outside).

• He  told his friends “I am dying, as I have lived, beyond my means”. 

• At the end, he famously quipped on his deathbed: "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go."

• Wilde died there on November 30, 1900. While originally buried in a pauper's grave, when he grew famous after his death he was moved to a grave with a massive stone monument at Père Lachaise Cemetery alongside icons like Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Frederick Chopin and Moliere. 

• Moving Wilde’s grave was a marketing ploy, with the thought that famous graves would bring visitors (who would later become customers) to the cemetery. The massive cemetery in the 20th Arrondissement, is a fabulous place for a contemplative stroll among the 70,000 sculpted and expensively decorated memorials. It is open every day of the week. Admission is free. 

The Café Culture

Just steps from the apartment are two of the most famous literary cafes. 

· Les Deux Magots Café opened in 1884 with its historical reputation derived from the patronage of Surrealist artists and intellectuals such as Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre. Other patrons included Hemingway, Albert Camus, James Joyce, Bertolt Brecht and the American writers, James Baldwin, Chester Himes, Charles Sutherland, and Richard Wright. Its name and two statues inside represent Chinese “mandarins,” or “magicians” who gaze serenely over the room and keep an eye on things.

• The Café de Flore also opened in the 1880s, during the French Third Republic. The classic Art Deco interior of all red seating, mahogany, and mirrors hasn’t really changed since World War II. Its regulars included artists and writers like Pablo Picasso and Truman Capote. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was known to be a frequent patron of Cafe de Flore during his years in France in the 1920s. The name is taken from a sculpture of Flora, the goddess of flowers and the season of spring in Roman mythology. 

Origins and the Monastic Land of Saint-Germain-des-Pres

• Monastic Roots: You will see several restaurants with the name des Prés. It’s because this was originally part of the vast meadowlands (des Prés) belonging to the Abbey of Saint-Germain. While the path likely dates to a minor Roman road, the street wasn't officially developed until the 17th  century.

• The  Street’s Name: The name comes from the Patriarch Jacob (Jacob is considered the traditional ancestor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel). In 1642, Queen Marguerite de Valois (Queen Margot) began building an altar to the biblical figure, giving the street its lasting title.

Rue Jacob Today 

Rue Jacob remains one of the most picturesque and desirable streets in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, featuring historic charm mixed with modern luxury.

• Antiques, Art Galleries, and Specialty Stores: It is famous globally for its concentration of high-end antique dealers and art galleries. There are stores such as Pierre Frey, Jim Thompson, Gien, and Caspari line the street.

• Boutique Hotels: The street is home to several classic, intimate hotels, many of which are housed in those original 17th-century hôtels particuliers (private mansions of the wealthy) allowing visitors to sleep in history.