It is 402 meters long and 36 meters wide. Traffic flows in two lanes in the direction of Place de l'Étoile, while in the opposite direction, traffic is reserved for buses, cabs and bicycles.
This street is named after Count Patrice de Mac Mahon (1808-1893), 1st Duke of Magenta, Marshal of the Second Empire and 3rd President of the French Republic, a position he held from 1873 to 1879. The street was named during his lifetime, when he was President of the Republic.
Patrice de Mac Mahon particularly distinguished himself during the Italian campaign of 1859. Half by luck, half by daring and flair, he pushed his troops forward without orders at a critical moment in the battle of Magenta, ensuring the French victory. For his brilliant services, he was awarded the marshal's baton by Napoleon III, and made Duke of Magenta.
Project for the Avenue du Prince-Jérôme on the Goujon plan of 1866
This road was created under the name “avenue du Prince-Jérôme”, in reference to Napoleon I's youngest brother;[Note 1] the avenue was renamed “avenue Mac-Mahon” in 1875.
N° 5: Mac Mahon cinémaN° 33: corner of Passage des Acacias.N° 5: Mac Mahon cinema [fr].[2] Opened in 1938, this cinema is still one of Paris's cinephilia hotspots. It programs great films from the repertory and organizes previews, meetings and debates during the week.
N° 6 bis: Emanuel Ungaro opens his own couture house in 1965, with the help of Sonja Knapp, a Swiss artist and four workers in a 40 m2 space. He presented his first ready-to-wear collection, entitled “Parallèle”, in 1968.
N° 12 bis: it was on the corner of rue Troyon [fr] in autumn 1935 that Édith Piaf, the little “chanteuse du bitume”, was discovered by Louis Leplée, manager of the fashionable luxury cabaret Le Gerny's, and her life changed to become the world-famous singer.
N° 17: Paul Azaïs (1902-1974), actor, lived here in 1943 on the occasion of his second marriage.[4]
N° 18 bis: chalet, 100 m from l'Étoile. Le Bat Petite Enfance is a nursery school built in 1897 by architect F. Constant Bernard, whose exterior has not changed. The zouave Jacob is said to have practiced his healing skills here. This charlatan built up a solid clientele thanks to his great flair.[5]
N° 19: built in 1896 by architect Jacques Hermant, as indicated by an inscription on the facade.[6]
N° 22 bis: on October 8, 1943, Cesare Luccarini [fr], an FTP-MOI member of l'Affiche Rouge, threw a grenade into a restaurant frequented by the occupying forces, but it did not explode.[7]
N° 29: a neo-Moorish-style[8] building with bossages and semicircular arched windows, built by the architect Georges Massa[9] in 1902 for Dr. Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría,[Note 4] initially two storeys high, then three storeys higher in 1903. The building was published in the architectural magazine Monographies de bâtiments modernes.[10] In 1906, the building was inaugurated as the headquarters of the Modern-Club, an artistic, literary and sports association whose aim was “to assist in the development of the arts in general and, in particular, to facilitate the beginnings of young authors and artists”.[11] But in 1907, the gaming brigade raided the club's premises: 50 men and women surrounded a gambling table. 3,400 francs in stakes and 4,000 francs in chips were seized.[12] The president of the Modern-Club was brought before the criminal court on charges of “holding a game of chance”. Six club employees were also prosecuted.[13] In 1913, the Mac Mahon Palace Hotel occupied the premises. That year, the hotel offered a New Year's Eve party with “first-rate attractions, tango, Argentine orchestra”, for 500 guests.[14] In 1920, a daily tea dance was organized and, on Tuesdays and Fridays, a gala evening (“evening dress de rigueur”); the director was a ballet master from the Opéra.[15] In 1935, the hotel changed its name to Hotel Ermitage-Mac-Mahon.[16] In 1936, a brawl broke out between waiters, resulting in the death of one of them.[17] Since 2019, the former hotel has been used as a notary's office, with a surface area of almost 3,000 m2, seven levels, an interior terrace and a tree-lined atrium.[18]
N° 17: 1930 building
N° 29: built by George Massa (1902)
Detail of the façade at n° 29
N° 33: former mansion on the corner of Passage des Acacias [fr], with marquise and protruding poodle and bulldog heads. In the early 1900s, this address housed a district office of the Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris.[19] In 1913, the hotel, with a surface area of around 115 m2, was put up for sale at the Palais with a bid of 100,000 francs.[20]
^Jérôme is the youngest of Madame Mère's eleven children, fifteen years younger than his eldest, the Emperor. Enlisted in the navy, he married a New Yorker while still a minor. This marriage was broken off by the Emperor, who had him marry the daughter of Frederick I of Württemberg. He was then made King of Westphalia. He had to leave his kingdom after the disasters of 1813. When his uncle Napoleon III came to power, he was appointed President of the Senate (1851) and reinstated with the title and honors of Prince Imperial (1852). Celebrated as the emperor's brother and Napoleon III's uncle, he was buried alongside his older brother at Les Invalides in 1860.
^Under the decree of August 13, 1854, between the Étoile traffic circle and rue de Tilsitt.
^Under the decree of August 13, 1854, between rue de Tilsitt and avenue des Ternes.
^Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría (1869-1933), born in Paris, was a Colombian citizen until he became a French citizen in 1917. He studied medicine, was attached to the Colombian embassy in Paris and in 1898 married the adopted daughter of a millionaire, Lino Martinez. A sportsman, he was an Olympic medalist at the 1900 Olympic Games in tug-of-war. He served as a doctor in the French army during the World War I and was awarded the Légion d'honneur order of merit."EXCLUSIVA: un Colombiano olímpico en París 1900" [EXCLUSIVE: a Colombian Olympian in Paris 1900]. Olimpismo.
N° 17: 1930 building
N° 29: built by George Massa (1902)
Detail of the façade at n° 29
Passage des Acacias seen from the avenue
Placette at the corner of rue Brey
The chalet-crèche
