Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The building of 3 rue Volta, located in the Marais district (3rd arrondissement of Paris), is a house with wooden walls. Long considered the oldest house in Paris, probably dating from 1300, research conducted in 1979 revealed that it was actually built between 1644 and 1654. The land she occupied was still virgin in 1644, thus invalidating her initial medieval dating. This confusion arose from an error in the interpretation of the archives, the house being actually built on the site of an old garden.

The street Volta itself is the result of the merger, by decree of 18 February 1851 under Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, of three pre-existing streets: rue Frépillon (attested as early as 1450 and linked to a noble family of the 13th century), rue de la Croix (opened in the 14th century on an area outside the walls of Paris, called Courtille Saint-Martin), and rue du Pont-aux-Biches-Saint-Martin (dated 1530, named after a narrow bridge on a sewer and a sign). These paths reflect the urban evolution of the Marais, marked by the walls of Charles V and the successive embankments of the Saint Martin hill.

The name rue Volta pays tribute to the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–27), inventor of the electric battery. This choice is part of a Parisian tradition of naming streets in honour of scientific or historical figures. The street, now served by the Arts et Métiers metros (lines 3 and 11), preserves traces of its medieval and modern past, although its route was modified by the 17th and 19th century developments.

At No 37 Volta Street is the Marais Theatre, a notable cultural place. In addition, the street inspired the poet Raymond Queneau, who devoted a poem to him in his book Courir les rues (1967). The building of No. 3, despite its revised dating, remains an architectural testimony of the 17th century construction techniques, with its apparent wood sections, characteristic of bourgeois houses of the period.

The 1979 reassessment corrected a major historical error: the oldest house in Paris is actually located at 51 rue de Montmorency (house of Nicolas Flamel, 1407). This case illustrates the importance of archival research for heritage preservation, where local legends can sometimes overshadow documented realities.

External links