Prêt-à-Promener: Jewelry Designer Elie Top Takes Us on a Walking Tour of His Paris Inline
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top1/12The Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul is located at the highest point of the 10th Arrondissement. For years after it was completed in the mid-19th century, the other side of the wall visible here would have been a ramp that allowed carriages direct drop-off and pickup. Today it has been transformed into the Square Aristide-Cavaillé-Coll, named after the church’s organ builder.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top2/12Top tried to capture the wild, fantastical flora ornamenting the building at 14 Rue d’Abbeville. A prime Art Nouveau specimen from 1901, it now registers as a novelty. Most of the detailing is enameled stoneware, treated to look like bronze or even copper.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top3/12Here is the building’s front door. Top noted how there are so few pronounced architectural examples in the city today because the architecture was considered too flamboyant, pejoratively earning the nickname “noodle style.”
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top4/12Quite the curves on those caryatids! Constructed just before the turn of the century, the building right next door at 16 Rue d’Abbeville goes bold on classical Belle Epoque detailing.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top5/12The designer singled out Mamagoto as one of his neighborhood standbys. Occupying an old bistro, the restaurant is now overseen by a Japanese chef with formal French training, so the dishes are composed of just two or three ingredients, such as foie gras with corn and persimmons.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top6/12The Marché Saint-Quentin is a covered market that evokes the original Les Halles in the First Arrondissement. Top paused to point out the detailed ironwork, as well as the reflection in the windows of the Haussmann building across the street.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top7/12This may be the peak season for Champagne, but Top stops into this liquor store throughout the year, in part, he says, because it has been run by the same family for nearly 110 years.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top8/12“They have a very focused eye and they love telling you about their selections,” says Top of the store, before the manager encourages us to return for a tasting.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top9/12Top wanted to capture the rose window behind the clock of the Gare de l’Est, noting how it suggested a “cathedral of the industrial age.” The train station is not even 10 minutes from his apartment, which is convenient for visits to one of his fabricators in Nancy.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top10/12The original entrance to Les Récollets, a former convent that is now a cultural center that includes the Maison de l’Architecture en Île-de-France.
Photo: Amy Verner11/12The debonair designer dons a Lanvin military coat from not long after Lucas Ossendrijver’s debut 10 years ago. “This area is definitely not touristique,” he says of the railway overpass while admiring its geometries.
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top12/12Inside the Marché Saint-Quentin, where Top usually comes for flowers and, occasionally, food.
