2-996-041 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Paris demolitions - removal of a portion of the Quartier Latin - from a drawing by M. Thorigny, 1860. 'The quarter now undergoing destruction is being demolished for two purposes, the prolongation of the Boulevard of Sebastopol and the enlargement of the Rue Soufflot, so as to disengage the Church of the Pantheon [seen in the background], and facilitate the view of its graceful peristyle from a distance...The débris are carried off with great promptitude...so that the obstruction to traffic may be as short as possible...the streets nearest the Luxembourg, in front of the Pantheon, were of a fine and solid description, forming part, however, of the famous Quartier Latin, so called from the number of colleges in the immediate vicinity...The block of buildings now in course of demolition...are the houses in the Rue d'Enfer, facing the Luxembourg garden, comprised twenty-nine properties, the importance of which may be judged of when we state that the jury fixed the indemnities to be paid by the city for their expropriation at the large sum of 5,492,125 francs. A linendraper, a druggist, and the proprietor of the Cafe du Luxembourg...received respectively £7000, £4000, and £8000 as compensation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.