The first was Baron Haussmann’s conversion of what was nothing more than a pile of rubble into a park (one of the few where walking on the grass is permitted) called the Butte Chaumont, and the other was the creation of the immense Parc de la Villette in the former docklands along the Canal de la Villette to the north.

Today the 19th, while very out of the way from the center of Paris, is home to a gentle mixture of 173,000 immigrants and hard-core Parisians who coexist in a varied residential and commercial climate contained within almost 7 square kilometers. The beautiful stone buildings around the Butte Chaumont are in sharp contrast to the more humble buildings of the Porte de Pantin, but both are worth a look – the first for their simple calm splendor, the second for the dynamic street life around them.

The 19th is in full development, and expanding outward toward the suburbs. Several projects are under consideration that will bridge this huge area of Paris with the inner suburbs within the next ten years.