Rue de Belle Chasse
Géricault Life
1792, March 31st, “Bail” (Lease) M. Rousseau à M. Robillard. Image via the Archives Nationales (France) MC/ET/XCI/1285
Rue de Belle Chasse
On March 31st, 1792, Pierre Antoine Robillard leased an apartment on the deuxième étage (third floor) of a building in the Faubourg Saint Germain in Paris. The building was owned by Pierre Rousseau (Inspecteur du bâtiments du roi), one of the most important architects in Paris. The lease provided Robillard, and his spouse Marie Thérèze de Poix (Théodore Géricault’s maternal great-aunt), with six rooms, a kitchen, a garde-robe (work/storage space), two rooms for servants, and two cellars. The lease would run for 3, 6, or 9 years at a cost of 1,200 francs per year to be paid in installments four times per year. The lease compelled Robillard to share the costs of lighting the courtyard. The lease runs to 2.5 pages and is quite normal in all respects.
The name of Marie Thérèze de Poix, (Robillard’s wife) appears nowhere in the agreement. The document confirms that Pierre Antoine Robillard (at least) was living in the Hôtel de Longueville in Paris (demeurant actuellement à Paris l’Hôtel de Longueville) at the time the agreement was signed, underscoring the importance of the Hôtel de Longueville to the Robillard/Caruel family. The Robillard-de Poix home at the corner of the rue de Belle Chasse and the rue de Bourbon provided the larger family with a second home in Paris from April 1st, 1792. Doubtless, family members in Rouen visited the rue de Belle Chasse apartment years before moving to their own apartment on the rue de l’Université, nearby, some years later.
1786, January 20, “Vente d’Immeuble” (Property Sale) Prince de Salm au M. et Mde. Rousseau. Image via the Archives Nationales (France) MC/ET/XCI/1232.
The long side of the building faced east onto the rue de Belle Chasse, looking towards Notre Dame and the colleges on the left bank of the Seine. The short side faced the rue Bourbon, the Hôtel de Salm, the Seine, and the Tuileries gardens on the opposite bank.
Hôtel de Salm (Palais de la Légion de honneur) copy of an early engraving.