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Origin and history

The Saint-Louis Hospital Reservoir is a stone building located at 7 rue Juliette-Dodu in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Built in the 17th century, it is part of the Saint-Louis hospital complex, the oldest hospital in Paris, founded under Henry IV after epidemics of plague. This reservoir, rectangular and covered with tiles, was intended to receive the waters from the sources of Belleville Hill. Its modest dimensions (about ten metres long) and its six stone foothills on the southeast side make it a typical example of the hydraulic infrastructure of the time.

In the 19th century, the Hospital Saint-Louis became a major centre of dermatology, with the creation of a museum in 1889 to house medical mouldings. The reservoir, for its part, remains linked to Belleville's historic water system. It is listed as a historic monument in 2006 as part of a global protection of this network. Its sober architecture, marked by traditional materials such as stone and tile, reflects its primary usefulness: storing and distributing water for the hospital and its outbuildings.

The reservoir is part of a larger architectural complex, including pavilions and galleries classified or listed at different dates (1937, 1982, 1993, 2003). Among the architects associated with the hospital were Claude Vellefaux, A. Lemercier, and Gustave-Léon Vera, who had worked on the dermatology museum in the late 19th century. The protection of the reservoir in 2006 underscores its heritage importance, both for its historical role and for its representation of the hydraulic techniques of Ancien Régime.

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