square du Docteur-Variot

The square du Docteur-Variot features a wall of ivy that swallows the stone borders, separating the quiet playground from the traffic of the rue de Belleville. It occupies the site of a former school that provided a rare refuge for local families during the early twentieth century. Gaston Variot, the physician the square honors, spent his career establishing milk clinics here to combat infant mortality. He treated the neighborhood children on these grounds, turning a simple patch of land into a center for public health.