Malesherbes: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 3.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from boulevard Malesherbes, named under the Restoration in tribute to Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721-1794), a magistrate, botanist and statesman, guillotined during the Terror. It is located in the south-east of the Plaine-de-Monceaux district, under place du Général-Catroux, on the axis of avenue de Villiers, between Wagram and Villiers. It opened with the second extension of line 3, from Villiers to the temporary terminus of Pereire; parc Monceau lies above the line's former terminal loop.
Anecdote
In 2024, as part of the « Ticket to LA » operation, the RATP jokingly renamed the station « Malibu », with the subtitle « Los Angeles 2028 ». Its exit 1 has a wrought-iron railing in the 1930s Dervaux style.
Around Malesherbes
- Parc Monceau, 550 m away — A park created for the Duke of Chartres and finished in 1779 by Carmontelle, who laid out follies including an Egyptian pyramid, a Roman colonnade and a Dutch windmill. In 1797 Garnerin made the first silk parachute jump here.
- Église Saint-Augustin, 550 m away — A 19th-century church with a hidden metal frame, an engineering feat by Victor Baltard.
- Boulevard Malesherbes, 250 m away — A wide boulevard cut through during the Second Empire, lined with elegant Haussmann-era buildings.