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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Paris 9th telephone and post office, built between 1911 and 1914, is a bold architectural construction in reinforced cement designed by François Le Coeur, disciple of Anatole de Baudot. The building is distinguished by its clear separation between office spaces and those reserved for technical functions, an innovative approach reflected both in façade and in plan. The facades, marked by an orthogonal cutting, are softened by a rich ornamentation: wrought undulating iron signed Szabo, friezes in blue and yellow glass paste, and enamels of the dome. Note that the interior has lost its significant original elements.

Starting in 1919, Le Coeur expanded the complex by integrating a post office, built on the site of the former music conservatory. This new space, in the extension of the telephone centre, includes a public room covered with a glass-opened reinforced cement dome, while the upper floors serve as an extension to the technical rooms of the central office. The facades of the post office, although simplified, are consistent with those of the original building. The set, protected in 1999, illustrates the alliance between industrial functionality and aesthetic ambition at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The protected elements include the fronts and roofs of the telephone centre, as well as the dome and stairwell of the post office, located at addresses 15-17 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, 2-12 rue Bergère, and 2 rue du Conservatoire. The building, owned by the State, bears witness to the technological and architectural advances of its time, with a precise but perfect location (level 7/10 depending on the sources).

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