Park André Citroën

From a hamlet to a factory

 

Although it became part of the commune of Issy-les-Moulineaux in 1789, the area only became part of the 15th arrondissement during the Second Empire. Javel at the time was known for its open-air café and for the manufacture of chemicals, started up by the Count d'Artois in 1784. It was here that bleach was invented, hence its French name eau de Javel.

 

Thinly populated in the 19th century, the area covering eighty hectares at the time had no more than seventy-five inhabitants, manual workers, gardeners and mostly rag-and-bone men.

 

In 1915, André Citroën built his factory close to the banks of the Javel and this continued to operate until the 1970s at which time car manufacturing was moved outside Paris. The twenty-three hectares which were thus freed up and were included in the capital's urbanisation policy gave rise to the Parc André Citroen.

 

It pays homage to the famous manufacturer who devoted his life to major national causes.

 

Over a vast area of fourteen hectares the park perpetuates the tradition of the prestigious parks of Paris which are designed perpendicular to the Seine such as the Champ de Mars and the Trocadéro gardens.

 

A futurist park

A stone square where two immense glasshouses contain the orangery, and a Mediterranean garden flanks a peristyle of water.

 

 

The park is split into several parts:

The Jardin Blanc (white garden), tree-lined, with little foliage which opens on to the neighbouring area. In its center there is a patio with white flowering plants. The Jardin Noir (dark garden) is a sort of enclosed labyrinth, highly shaded with a very dense and dark vegetation and terraces giving on to a small square.

 

The vegetation and flowering times of the two gardens are contrasted in colour and form.

 

The vast central lawn includes two lateral zones:

 

 

 

On one side, six densely planted serial gardens, alive with golds and coppers, dominate the moving spaces or grow bamboo and wild grasses from a wild meadow. In front of the serial garden, six highly mineralised components, water lilies, waterfalls and towers overhang the water's edge.

 

Lower down, the jardin des Roches (rock garden) and its sculpted rocks is a paradise for children.

 

The futuristic André Citroën park foreshadows the leisure spaces of the third millennium.

Address :

Quai André-Citroën
75015 - PARIS

How to get there :
Metro : Balard or Javel