Rue de Lille (Paris)

Rue de Lille is defined by the heavy, carved limestone facades of its private mansions, many of which still display the oversized wooden carriage doors that once allowed noble households to slip into inner courtyards. During the nineteenth century, these addresses housed the city's political and intellectual elite. A young Eugene Delacroix painted some of his most famous canvases here while living in a cramped attic apartment, while mere doors away, government ministers conducted the affairs of the state behind thick, soundproofed parlor walls.