The Cité Florale of Paris: six flower-named lanes in the 13th arrondissement

Between rue Boussingault, rue Auguste-Lançon and rue Brillat-Savarin, in the 13th arrondissement, there is a triangle of land that the Paris of tall buildings never managed to swallow up. It is the Cité Florale, a block of low cottages built in 1928, organised around six little cobbled streets that all bear the names of flowers: rue des Glycines, rue des Iris, rue des Liserons, rue des Orchidées, rue des Volubilis and the small central square, the square des Mimosas.

Why it came to be this way

The reason there are no apartment blocks here is geological, not aesthetic. The triangle sits on the last of the ponds fed by the Bièvre, the river that once ran through this part of Paris before being covered over between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for reasons of hygiene. It was a meadow that flooded regularly, and in winter it froze: locals came to break the ice and sell it on, and that is where the name of the surrounding district, Glacière, comes from. When the decision was made to build, the ground proved too soft to bear the weight of Haussmann-style buildings, so developers fell back on small, lightweight dwellings. Many were workers' houses: the area was dotted with workshops and factories, and these little villas housed the people who worked in them.

The houses

What you see today is a showcase of interwar architecture. The houses have Art Deco touches, recognisable in the bow windows and in the walls that avoid sharp right angles; the façades are painted in different shades, with coloured shutters, and almost every wall is covered in Virginia creeper, ivy and above all wisteria, which in May cascades in clusters over the walls and gates. The proportions stay modest and consistent, so the whole works despite the mix of styles. All around rise the modern towers of the 13th, and the contrast is the thing that strikes you most: you turn the corner from an ordinary street and find yourself in a maze of little villas with flowering gardens.

One important note: the Cité Florale is a private cité, that is to say a lived-in residential complex. You can walk the streets on foot, but you are explicitly asked to respect the peace of those who live there: no shouting, no drones, nothing intrusive towards windows and courtyards. It is a half-hour stroll, to be done discreetly.

Getting there

To get there, the nearest metro station is Glacière, on line 6, from which you head south; alternatively you can take the T3a tram along the boulevards des Maréchaux and come up from the Place de Rungis. A good way to find your bearings is to head down rue Brillat-Savarin starting from the Place de Rungis itself and then turn into rue des Orchidées. The crowds are minimal because there is nothing to visit in the classic sense: no monument, no ticket office, just streets to look at. The best time is spring, between April and June, when wisteria and the other climbers are in bloom; September offers a warm light and still a few flowers. It is well worth pairing the walk with the nearby Butte-aux-Cailles, about ten minutes away, and with the parc Montsouris, also not far off.