Dupleix: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
Opened in 1906, the station takes its name from rue Dupleix, in tribute to Joseph François Dupleix (1697-1763), Governor-General of the French East India Company in 1742, who strengthened France's commercial position against English influence. Recalled to France in 1754, he was never reimbursed for the fortune he had invested in India. An elevated station, it stands above boulevard de Grenelle, between rue de Lourmel and rue Dupleix, in the 15th arrondissement, and its two entrances open onto rue Desaix and rue Viala.
Anecdote
The site once housed the Grenelle wall, where many condemned prisoners were shot between 1797 and 1815, among them the conspiring generals Malet, La Horie and Guidal, and Colonel de La Bédoyère. A pillar of the station may carry the last surviving public pressure gauge, once used to detect leaks in the water network. The Journal officiel has its headquarters at 26 rue Desaix, close by.
Around Dupleix
- Champ de Mars, 850 m away — A vast green esplanade stretching to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, laid out for the World's Fairs.
- Tour Eiffel, 1050 m away — Paris's iconic landmark, built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair.
- Village Suisse, 450 m away — A picturesque antiques district, on the site of a former village recreated for the 1900 World's Fair.