Saint-Augustin: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 9.
Why this name?
Created in 1923 on line 9, according to the date on the original tiling, the station was the north-eastern terminus for a week, until the extension to Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette inaugurated on 3 June that year. It takes its name from place Saint-Augustin and the church, dedicated to Augustine of Hippo (354-430). A third dead-end track, planned for a branch to porte des Ternes that was never built, was used for stabling before being removed to widen the platform.
Anecdote
The corridor to Saint-Lazare, on line 14, has housed since 2011 the mosaic « La Voix lactée » (The Milky Way) by the Quebec artist Geneviève Cadieux, given to the RATP by the Société de transport de Montréal in exchange for a Guimard edicule from Charles de Gaulle - Étoile, now at the Square-Victoria - OACI station. In July 2023, the platform tiles were removed to redo the vault's waterproofing, and the CMP decoration was recreated identically in 2024.
Around Saint-Augustin
- Parc Monceau, 1000 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, 230 m away — A 19th-century church with a hidden metal frame, an engineering feat by Victor Baltard.
- Boulevard Haussmann, 300 m away — A major shopping boulevard lined with department stores and elegant Haussmann-era buildings.
- Chapelle expiatoire, 170 m away — A funerary monument raised by Louis XVIII on the site of the cemetery where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were first buried.