Avenue de l'Opéra toward the Palais Garnier, Paris, circa 1907

About this postcard

A view looking down the Avenue de l'Opéra toward the Palais Garnier, whose domed and pedimented facade closes the vista at the end of the street. Horse-drawn carriages, omnibuses and pedestrians fill the broad roadway, flanked by uniform Haussmann-era apartment blocks with red-and-white striped shop awnings and rows of pollarded trees; circular fountains and a street clock occupy the foreground plaza. The avenue was cut through the old quarter in the 1860s–70s as part of Haussmann's rebuilding of Paris, and the opera house designed by Charles Garnier opened in 1875. The caption credits the photograph to the Paris firm Neurdein (N.D. Phot.).