Château d'Eau: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 4.
Why this name?
A line 4 station in the 10th arrondissement, under boulevard de Strasbourg, at rue du Château-d'Eau. Its name comes from that street, itself the heir of the former place du Château-d'Eau, which in the early 19th century occupied the junction of the faubourg du Temple and the boulevard du Temple, on the site of the Porte du Temple bastion. The square bore this name because of Girard's fountain, which served as a water tower (« château d'eau ») from 1811 to 1867, when it was replaced by Davioud's fountain. In the 1880s the square became place de la République.
Anecdote
The station's two entrances, on rue du Château-d'Eau and boulevard de Strasbourg, are topped by Guimard edicules listed as historic monuments. The station is at ground level, under a metal deck ceiling with silver beams, and its green « Ouï-dire » decor combines a lighting strip on scythe-shaped brackets, large grey tiles and green cylindrical advertising frames. On an April Fool's day, the RATP renamed it « Château de sable » (sandcastle), like twelve other stations.
Around Château d'Eau
- Théâtre de la Renaissance, 200 m away — A hall founded in 1838 on the initiative of Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas to champion Romanticism, later run by Sarah Bernhardt from 1893 to 1899.
- Théâtre Antoine, 60 m away — An Italian-style theatre from 1866 where André Antoine revolutionised French staging by founding the Théâtre Libre.
- Porte Saint-Martin, 260 m away — A triumphal arch raised in 1674 to glorify Louis XIV, celebrating his military victories.
- Canal Saint-Martin, 850 m away — A picturesque 19th-century canal, lined with shaded quays and cast-iron footbridges.
- Rue du Château-d'Eau, 160 m away — A street with one of the highest concentrations of Afro hair salons in Europe.
- Passage Brady, 120 m away — Nicknamed Paris's "little Bombay", this 19th-century covered passage is today lined with brightly coloured Indian and Pakistani restaurants.