Between 1898 and 1913, architect Hector Guimard gave Paris its most recognizable Art Nouveau face: sinuous façades inspired by plant forms, whiplash ironwork, and above all the famous metro entrances that still grace the city today. The largest concentration of his buildings sits in the 16th arrondissement, around rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine, making it possible to build a genuine walking route through this architectural period.
The Porte Dauphine entrance
A logical starting point for the route, this metro entrance is one of only two left with its original dragonfly-wing glass canopy still intact, complete with its glass-and-cast-iron marquee. The other surviving complete entrance is at Abbesses station in Montmartre, too far to fold into the same walk.
Castel Béranger
At 14 rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine, Guimard's first major commission, completed in 1898, won him the prize for Paris's most beautiful façade and effectively launched the Art Nouveau style in the capital. The façade mixes stone, brick, ceramic and ironwork in a deliberately asymmetric composition.
Rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine
Beyond Castel Béranger, the same street holds several more Guimard buildings at numbers 17, 19 and 21, as well as Hôtel Mezzara at number 60, built in 1910 for a textile industrialist and notable for its abundance of ornate balconies.
Hôtel Guimard, avenue Mozart
The architect built his own residence here in 1909, a few streets away. Every floor has a different arrangement of windows and balconies, a personal statement of his approach late in his career.
Spotting the style elsewhere in the city
Beyond this route through the 16th, a trained eye can spot traces of the Art Nouveau style elsewhere in Paris: simpler balustrade-style metro entrances in many stations, Art Nouveau façades around Montmartre and the Opéra district, or the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann dome, completed in 1912 and genuinely contemporary with the movement, though not by Guimard.
Tips
The route through the 16th takes an hour to two hours of easy walking, starting at Porte Dauphine metro station (line 2) and ending at Jasmin or Michel-Ange-Auteuil (line 9), which serve rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine and avenue Mozart directly. Most of these buildings remain private property or are occupied by administrative offices, so only the façades can be seen from the street. To pair the walk with something you can actually step inside, riding the metro through a well-preserved Guimard station remains the simplest way to "visit" one of the architect's works day to day.
