Villiers: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro lines 2 and 3.
Why this name?
The station was first called « Avenue de Villiers », then simplified to « Villiers ». Avenue de Villiers owes its name to the former village of Villiers-la-Garenne, whose hamlet stood where place de la Libération, in Levallois-Perret, is today. Shared by lines 2 and 3, the station lies on the border of the 8th and 17th arrondissements, under place Prosper-Goubaux. On line 3 it was first the western terminus from Père-Lachaise, before becoming a through station.
Anecdote
The original plan was a shared trunk for lines 2 and 3 between Étoile and Villiers, abandoned in favour of an extension of line 3. The level of the line 3 station was then lowered by 1.6 m, which explains the exceptionally high vault of its platforms. The turning loop of line 3 lies under parc Monceau. The painter Édouard Vuillard made sketches of the station in 1916 and 1917.
Around Villiers
- 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.
- Musée Cernuschi, 290 m away — The City of Paris's museum of Asian arts, home to a remarkable collection of Chinese bronzes.
- Musée Nissim de Camondo, 300 m away — An early 20th-century mansion preserved as it was, a testament to the refinement of French living.