Quartier de la Butte-aux-Cailles

You are walking toward the Butte-aux-Cailles, a neighborhood that physically defies the layout of modern Paris. While the rest of the city was reshaped by Baron Haussmann in the nineteenth century with wide boulevards and towering stone buildings, this area remained largely untouched. The reason for this architectural rebellion lies beneath your feet. The hill is honeycombed with ancient limestone quarries, which made the ground too unstable to support the heavy, massive structures seen elsewhere in the city. Consequently, the district kept its low-slung, village-like character, defined by narrow streets and small, modest houses that were too light to cause a collapse.