Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Agar buildings, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, constitute a set of seven report buildings built in 1911 by architect Hector Guimard. Ordered by the Moderne Street Real Estate Corporation, these six-storey and two-storey attic buildings are distinguished by their balconies and window supports molded by the Fonderies de Saint-Dizier, according to Guimard's plans. The street, originally named Rue Moderne, was inaugurated in 1912 under the name of Rue Agar, in tribute to the tragic woman Marie-Leonide Charvin, known as this pseudonym.

The design of the Agar buildings illustrates the Art Nouveau aesthetic, with integrated decorative elements such as cast iron balconies and harmonious facades. In 1975, facades and roofs were inscribed in the Historic Monuments, followed in 2006 by the protection of the interior decorations of Café Antoine, located in one of the buildings. This coffee preserves a glass ceiling signed Benoist & Fils, paintings by E. Mérou, as well as murals and tiles, testimonies of the craft of the era.

Entrepreneurs J. Nacut and E. de Bosson played a key role in the realization of the project, while artist E. Mérou contributed to the painted decorations of the coffee. The main address of the buildings extends over the streets Gros, La Fontaine and Agar, in an emblematic residential area of Paris. Their location, noted as satisfactory a priori in the heritage bases, makes it an accessible example of Guimardian architecture, less known than its metro entrances but just as representative of its style.

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