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Origin and history

The Guimard building of Botzaris station is an access to the Paris metro, designed in 1900 by the architect Hector Guimard for the Compagnie générale du Métropolitain. It is one of the emblematic works of Art Nouveau for the Parisian network, characterized by their organic forms and cast iron structures. This specific edicle, located on Rue Botzaris opposite the Buttes-Chaumont Park, was inscribed in the historical monuments by order of 29 May 1978, a protection renewed on 12 February 2016.

Botzaris station, opened on 18 January 1911, was initially part of line 7 of the metro, as part of a branch line to Pré-Saint-Gervais. His name pays tribute to the Greek patriot Márkos Bótzaris (1788–1823), hero of the war of Greek independence, via the eponymous street under which it is implanted. The station had from its beginning an atypical configuration, with a central right foot dividing the tracks into two half stations, a provision imposed by the former gypsum quarries of the basement.

In 1967, the station was integrated into the new 7 bis line, created to isolate the little-used branch to Pré-Saint-Gervais. The purpose of this reorganization was to optimize the operation of the network, with the branch to Porte de la Villette being much more borrowed. Guimard, for its part, remained a major architectural testimony of the era of the origins of the metro, despite the subsequent renovations of the station, such as that of 2003 as part of the RATP's "Metro Renewal" programme.

The access adorned by the Guimard edicle, entitled " Rue Botzaris", is distinguished by its fixed staircase and its cast iron structure, typical of the Guimard style. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Buttes-Chaumont Park, an emblematic 19th arrondissement. The protection of the church in 2016 confirmed its heritage importance, as the last visible vestige of Art Nouveau entrances designed for the Paris metro at the beginning of the 20th century.

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