15th arrondissement of Paris

Front de Seine as seen from Pont Mirabeau, 22 April 2014

15th arrondissement of Paris Vaugirard
French municipal arrondissement
Front de Seine Skyline
Paris and its closest suburbs
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Paris
Commune	Paris
Government
• Mayor	Philippe Goujon
Area
• Total	8.50 km2 (3.28 sq mi)
Population (8 March 1999 census)[p]
• Total	225,362
• Estimate (2005)	232,400
• Density	27,000/km2 (69,000/sq mi)
^[p] Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

The 20 arrondissements of Paris
17th 18th 19th   8th 9th 10th 11th 20th 16th 2nd 3rd 1st 4th 12th River Seine   7th 6th 5th 13th 15th 14th

The 15th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) of the capital city of France, also called "Arrondissement de Vaugirard".

Situated on the Rive Gauche (left bank) of the River Seine and sharing the Montparnasse district with the 6th and 14th arrondissements, it is the city's most populous arrondissement. The Tour Montparnasse – the tallest skyscraper in Paris – and the neighbouring Gare Montparnasse are both located in the 15th arrondissement, at its border with the 14th. It is also home to the convention center Paris expo Porte de Versailles and the high-rise district of the Front de Seine (or Beaugrenelle).

History

The loi du 16 juin 1859 decreed the annexation to Paris of the area between the old Wall of the Farmers-General and the wall of Thiers. The communes of Grenelle, Vaugirard, and Javel were incorporated into Paris in 1860.

Quarters

As in all the Parisian arrondissements, the fifteenth is made up of four administrative quarters (quartiers).

The four administrative quarters of the 15th arrondissement.

• To the south, quartier Saint-Lambert occupies the former site of the village of Vaugirard, built along an ancient Roman road. The geography of the area was particularly suited to wine-making, as well as quarrying. In fact, many Parisian monuments, such as the École Militaire, were built from Vaugirard stone. The village, not yet being part of Paris, was considered by Parisians to be an agreeable suburb, pleasant for country walks or its cabarets and puppet shows. In 1860 Vaugirard was annexed to Paris, along with adjoining villages. Today, notable attractions in this area include the Parc des Expositions (an exhibition center which hosts the Foire de Paris, agricultural expositions, and car shows), and Parc Georges-Brassens, a park built on the former site of a slaughterhouse where every year wine by the name of Clos des Morillons is produced and auctioned at the civic center.
• To the east, quartier Necker was originally an uninhabited space between Paris and Vaugirard. The most well-known landmarks in the area are the Gare Montparnasse train station and the looming Tour Montparnasse office tower. The area around the train station has been renovated and now contains a number of office and apartment blocks, a park (the Jardin Atlantique, built directly over the train tracks), and a shopping center. Finally, the quartier contains a number of public buildings: the Lycée Buffon, the Necker Children's Hospital, as well as the private foundation Pasteur Institute.
• To the north, quartier Grenelle was originally a village of the same name. Grenelle plain extended from the current Hôtel des Invalides to the suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux on the other side of the Seine, but remained mostly uninhabited in centuries past due to difficulties farming the land. At the beginning of the 19th century, an entrepreneur by the name of Violet divided off a section of the plain: this became the village of Beaugrenelle, known for its series of straight streets and blocks, which remain today. The whole area broke off from the commune of Vaugirard in 1830, becoming the commune of Grenelle, which was in turn annexed to Paris in 1860. A century later, a number of apartment and office towers were built along the Seine, the Front de Seine along with the Beaugrenelle shopping mall.
• To the west, quartier Javel lies to the south of Grenelle plain. In years past, it was the industrial area of the arrondissement: first with chemical companies (the famous Eau de Javel [bleach] was invented and produced there), then electrical companies (Thomson), and finally car manufacturers (Citroën), whose factories occupied a large part of the quartier up until the early 1970s. The industrial areas have since been rehabilitated, and the neighbourhood now contains Parc André Citroën, Georges Pompidou European Hospital, and a number of large office buildings and television studios (Sagem, Snecma, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile, Canal Plus, France Télévisions, etc.). In addition, to the south of the circular highway (boulevard périphérique), an extension of the 15th, formerly an aerodrome at the beginning of the 20th century, is now a heliport, a gym and a recreation center.

Musée Pasteur.

The early airfield here has been encroached upon by urban development and a sports centre, but the residual area, mainly laid to grass, continues to serve Paris as a heliport. The Sécurité Civile has a detachment there close to maintenance facilities. Customs facilities are available and especially busy during the Salon d'Aeronautique airshows held at Le Bourget on the other side of the city.

Geography

The land area of this arrondissement is 8.502 km² (3.283 sq. miles, or 2,101 acres).

Demography

The peak of population of Paris's 15th arrondissement occurred in 1962, when it had 250,551 inhabitants. Since then it has lost approximately one-tenth of its population, but it remains the most populous arrondissement of Paris, with 225,362 inhabitants at the last census in 1999. With 144,667 jobs at the same census, the 15th is also very dense in business activities.

• 

  Paris – Pont Mirabeau detail

• 

  Colonnes d'eau Parc Andre Citroen Paris

• 

  Paris XV, rue Alain Chartier, Wallace fountain

• 

  Statue of Liberty (with Eiffel Tower in background)

• 

  Cristaux. Jean-Yves Lechevallier

• 

  Tour Montparnasse

• 

  Parc Georges-Brassens

Historical population

Immigration

Places of interest

• 

  Keller Swimming pool

• 

  Citroën models

• 

  Panoramic restaurant

• 

  Péniche Thalassa, Quai André-Citroën

• 

  Pont de Bir-Hakeim

• 

  France Télévisions

La musique (Musée Bourdelle).

• Musée Pasteur ^[1]
• Musée du Service des Objets Trouvés
• Musée Bourdelle
• Musée Mendjisky specializing in school of Paris artists, housed in a Robert Mallet-Stevens building.^[2]
• Musée Jean Moulin, French Resistance – (musées Leclerc-Moulin) ^[3]
• Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris
• Beaugrenelle Shopping Center.^[4]
• Parts of the Montparnasse area.
• The former workshop (no longer standing) of Constantin Brâncuși, where the sculptor worked from 1925 to 1957 has now been relocated in front of the Centre Georges Pompidou
• Villa Santos Dumont where Ossip Zadkine and Fernand Léger^[5] had their workshop, also featured in Gail Albert Halaban book Out of my window. Paris.^[6]
• La Ruche
• Square Béla Bartók where the sculpture-fountain Cristaux by Jean-Yves Lechevallier can be seen.
• A replica of the statue of Liberty on the île aux Cygnes where Bartholdi worked.
• The pont de Bir-Hakeim
• The Pont Mirabeau
• The parc André Citroën with the Ballon de Paris,^[7] Ballon Generali.
• The Parc Georges-Brassens
• The Polypores Fountain by Jean-Yves Lechevallier featured in the movie by Alain Resnais Same Old Song.
• Paris expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center (with the Tour Triangle project) and Palais des Sports, near Porte de Versailles metro station.
• Front de Seine high-rise district.
• Cheminée du Front de Seine is a 130m chimney that is the 4th tallest structure in Paris

Government and infrastructure

• At one time the head office of the Bureau Enquêtes-Accidents was in the 15th arrondissement.^[8]
• Coming soon, the centralized administration of the French Ministry of Defense, project Balardgone as in The Pentagon.
• Embassy of Australia
• Japan cultural center in Paris
• Institut Français ^[9]

Economy

Art Nouveau building, detailed view.

• The headquarters of Orange S.A. and Eutelsat are located in the 15th arrondissement.^[10]
• La Poste, the French mail service, has its head office in the arrondissement.^[11][12]
• The publisher Hachette Livre also has its headquarters in the arrondissement.^[13]
• Prior to the completion of the current Air France headquarters in Tremblay-en-France in December 1995,^[14][15] Air France was headquartered in a tower located next to the Gare Montparnasse rail station in Montparnasse and in the 15th arrondissement; Air France had its headquarters in the tower for about 30 years.^[16][17][18]
• Previously the Tour Maine-Montparnasse , in the 15th arrondissement of Paris housed the executive management of Accor.^[19]
• Pasteur Institute
• Journal officiel de la République française
• French Football Federation
• Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel
• Safran
• Institut français des relations internationales
• European Space Agency
• International Energy Agency
• Eutelsat
• France Télévisions
• International Council of Museums
• Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou

• 

  Palais des Sports de Paris

• 

  Marché rue de la Convention

• 

  Ile des Cygnes and St Christophe Church

• 

  Entrance to "La Ruche"

• 

  European Hospital Georges-Pompidou, Hall

• 

  Marché du livre ancien Georges Brassens

• 

  Ballon air de Paris

Education and research

Pantheon-Assas University – Vaugirard.

• Schiller International University has a campus in the arrondissement. It is in proximity to Place de la Convention.^[20]
• This arrondissement is also host to the École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel international school and
• The international bilingual school, Victor Hugo, (école internationale bilingue)^[21]
• International Culinary school Le Cordon Bleu, established in 1895, has a campus in the 15th (rue Léon Delhomme) ^[22]
• Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital affiliated to the University of Paris Descartes, (pediatrics)
• Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Saint Charles Campus-Visual arts and aesthetics ^[23]
• Panthéon-Assas University Campus Vaugirard, Law school
• Pasteur Institute
• Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie

Notable people

Louis Pasteur by Félix Nadar in 1878.

• Louis Pasteur
• Marie-Claire Pauwels, journalist, born in the arrondissement
• Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and colleagues discovered the two HIV viruses that cause AIDS, in 1983 and 1985, were honored by the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob discovered the mechanism of genes' transcription regulation, a work honored by the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Dietrich von Choltitz
• Antoine Bourdelle
• Alexander Calder
• Marc Chagall
• Ossip Zadkine
• René Magritte
• Tsuguharu Foujita
• Joan Miró
• Henry Miller lived in the 15th where he worked on Tropic of Cancer.^[24]
• Samuel Beckett who lived in the 15th arrondissement of Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French.
• Barbara Chase-Riboud

Brigitte Bardot – 1962.

• Brigitte Bardot, born in the 15th
• André Citroën
• François Hollande
• Sophie Marceau
• Luc Besson

See also

• Front de Seine

Bibliography

• Thirza Vallois, Around and about Paris Vol.3: New Horizons: Haussmann's Annexation (Arrondissements 13-20), Iliad Books, 1999, pages 80 to 104.^[25]
• Ann Pringle-Harris, The 15th, a World of Its Own, The New York Times, 1997.^[26]

References

External links

• 15th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paris 15e arrondissement.

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Coordinates: 48°50′28.78″N 2°18′1.05″E / 48.8413278°N 2.3002917°E / 48.8413278; 2.3002917