I'm very fond of this Paris facade, on the rue du Faubourg Montmartre. It advertises hydrotherapy at the Chateaudun Baths, now long gone. There doesn't seem to be much information about what services were offered here - hydrotherapy is a general term for a whole range of therapies, popular from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, involving water. Some form of bathing seems the most likely in these Paris premises, although therapies could also involve sea water, thermal mineral springs, and so on.
If anyone has more information on this little Parisian mystery, do leave a comment!
1 comment:
I have no specific information on Bains de Châteaudun.
From the appearance of the shop front, I would guess it dates back to the very end of XIX C, early XX C (pre-WWI), a time when many (most) Parisian dwellings had no running water except on the landing, to share with other flats. There were commercial or public (City-owned) baths and I would suggest this is one of the commercial (private) ones. The name, I would suggest, is because rue du Faubourg Montmartre intersects rue de Châteaudun a few metres away, just beyond rue de Maubeuge..
It is fortunate that the front, as well as the one next door, now an “agence immobilière”, have survived. I hope there is some sort of legal conservation protection covering both.
Apologies for not being able to help.
FM Chaballier
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