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paris_yank:go:nice:4dubou [2026/03/31 03:50] – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1paris_yank:go:nice:4dubou [2026/03/31 03:50] (current) – ↷ Page name changed from paris_yank:go:nice:this_page to paris_yank:go:nice:4dubou parisyank
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 +====== 4 bis Boulevard Dubouchage, Nice, France ======
 +//A History of Our Address and Its Street//
  
 +
 +> "Ma chère ville presque natale." — Romain Gary, on Nice((Romain Gary, quoted in //Nice, Vie des Quartiers — Dubouchage//, Archives Nice Côte d'Azur, May–June 2018. https://archives.nicecotedazur.org/quartiers/nice-vie-des-quartiers-dubouchage/))
 +
 +We live on one of the most historically layered streets in Nice — a boulevard that has housed a prefect's legacy, a Parisian industrialist's villa, the city's oldest library, a celebrated arts club, its first public art gallery, and the formative years of one of France's greatest novelists. Boulevard Dubouchage is not a famous street in the manner of the Promenade des Anglais, but its depth of history is remarkable, and our address at No. 4 bis places us at its southern, city-centre end — steps from Place Masséna, the Promenade du Paillon, and the cultural heart of Nice.
 +
 +This entry documents what we know about our building and its street: its history, its notable neighbours and residents, and the cultural life that has animated it for more than 150 years. Where the record is well-documented, we cite it directly. Where it requires informed inference, we say so clearly. The definitive archive for everything further is held at the Archives Nice Côte d'Azur, whose digitised records on the Dubouchage quarter are the primary source for this entry.
 +
 +
 +===== Table of Contents =====
 +
 +  - [[#historical_perspective|Historical Perspective]]
 +  - [[#our_street_boulevard_dubouchage|Our Street: Boulevard Dubouchage]]
 +  - [[#the_man_behind_the_name|The Man Behind the Name]]
 +  - [[#our_building_4_bis|Our Building: 4 bis]]
 +  - [[#our_neighbours_notable_addresses_on_the_boulevard|Our Neighbours: Notable Addresses on the Boulevard]]
 +  - [[#the_cultural_life_of_our_street|The Cultural Life of Our Street]]
 +  - [[#romain_gary_our_boulevards_most_celebrated_connection|Romain Gary: Our Boulevard's Most Celebrated Connection]]
 +  - [[#our_location_in_the_quartier_carabacel|Our Location in the Quartier Carabacel]]
 +  - [[#walking_our_street_a_short_literary_and_historical_stroll|Walking Our Street: A Short Literary and Historical Stroll]]
 +  - [[#further_research|Further Research]]
 +  - [[#quick_reference_card|Quick Reference Card]]
 +  - [[#references|References]]
 +
 +----
 +
 +===== Historical Perspective =====
 +Nice has belonged to several political entities throughout its long history, but it is currently part of France. 
 +
 +  * **County of Nice** (1388–1792): Nice was part of the County of Nice, which was under the rule of the House of Savoy. 
 +  * **Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia** (1720–1860): After becoming part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Nice remained under Savoyard control until it was annexed by France. 
 +  * **France** (1860–present): In 1860, as part of a treaty between France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Nice was ceded to France. It has been part of France ever since. 
 +Although Nice was never formally part of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861), it was part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which later became the Kingdom of Italy.  So, while technically not a part of Italy, it shared a historical and cultural connection with the Italian state.
 +-----
 +
 +===== Our Street: Boulevard Dubouchage =====
 +
 +Boulevard Dubouchage connects Boulevard Carabacel to Avenue Jean-Médecin. It is therefore a transitional artery — one of the principal north–south axes of the Carabacel quarter, linking the elevated residential hill to the north with the commercial and civic spine of the city at the south. Our own address at No. 4 bis sits at this southern end, within two or three minutes' walk of Place Masséna and the tram network.
 +
 +The street's origins are older than its current name. It was formerly called the rue then boulevard de l'Empeyrat or Empeirat — meaning "paved road" in Provençal — and it was during the great urban works of the 19th century that the municipality drove this major axis through the district, bordered by plane trees in the same manner as the quays of the Paillon and the Avenue de la Gare. Those plane trees remain one of the boulevard's defining physical features today: their canopy creates dappled shade along the pavement in summer and a bare, elegant skeleton in winter that reveals the facades behind them.
 +
 +The city's regulatory plan — the plan régulateur — stopped at what is now Boulevard Dubouchage, leaving a certain urban disorder to develop beyond it to the north. This is why the boulevard still functions, architecturally and socially, as a legible boundary: to the south, the ordered grids of the 19th-century New Town; to the north, a more organic and varied fabric of residential streets climbing toward Cimiez. In its own right, the neighborhood Cimiez has a rich history [[wp>Cimiez]].
 +
 +<note>
 +We can look up from our building and read this transition directly. The regularity of the Haussmann-influenced street grid surrounds us at the southern end of the boulevard, while five minutes' walk northward the building plots become larger and less regular — the territory where mid-19th century planning gave way to individual villa construction on the hillside.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== The Man Behind the Name =====
 +
 +The boulevard carries the name of an administrator who left an unusually positive impression on the people of Nice — rare enough in the history of imposed governance to merit remembering.
 +
 +Marc Joseph du Gratet, comte du Bouchage, was a native of Grenoble whom the French Empire appointed as prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes in 1803. It was he who, without friction, managed the handover of powers in 1814 to the Sardinian intendant-general Fighiéra at the Restoration. He had kept in his administration respected Niçois figures such as Benoît Bunico, his secretary-general, and Jean-Baptiste Sauvaigo, councillor of the prefecture, and thus left the Niçois with the memory of an administrator attentive to local concerns.
 +
 +His portrait in oil on canvas hangs today in the Musée Masséna — a short walk from our door — where visitors can see the face of the man whose name we address every letter and parcel we send.
 +
 +<note tip>
 +The Musée Masséna at 65 Rue de France holds permanent collections documenting Nice's history under successive administrations, including the Napoleonic period during which du Bouchage served. Entry is free, and the villa's garden is one of the best free sitting-places near the Promenade. It is a natural extension of any walk from our door toward the sea.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Our Building: The Palais Jacqueline =====
 +
 +We now have a confirmed name and documented history for our building. The residential complex at [[https://www.google.com/maps/place/4+Bd+Dubouchage,+06000+Nice/@43.7036092,7.2723399,18z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x12cddaaf748c233d:0x6c0fa4594535abd8!8m2!3d43.703966!4d7.2731043!16s%2Fg%2F11gns8dl7q?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDMxOC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D|4 / 4 bis Boulevard Dubouchage]] is recorded in the PSS national architectural database and the Wikipedia inventory of Nice's palaces under the name **Palais Jacqueline**. ((PSS Architecture Database, //Palais Jacqueline, 4 Boulevard Dubouchage, Nice//, pss-archi.eu, reference FR-06088-42084. https://www.pss-archi.eu/immeubles/FR-06088-42084.html)) ((Wikipedia, //Liste des palais de Nice//, fr.wikipedia.org, 2025. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_palais_de_Nice))
 +
 +This confirmed identification resolves the open questions of our previous entry and corrects our earlier, cautious inference that the building was likely late 19th century. It is considerably more recent — and its style is not Belle Époque but Art Deco, placing it in one of the most architecturally confident periods in Nice's history.
 +
 +^ Attribute ^ Confirmed Detail ^
 +| Name | Palais Jacqueline |
 +| Address | 4 / 4 bis Boulevard Dubouchage, 06000 Nice |
 +| Quarter | Carabacel |
 +| Year of construction | 1924 |
 +| Architectural style | Art Deco |
 +| Architect | Jules Vincent Laurent Charles Febvre(([[https://www.pss-archi.eu/architecte/4119|PSS Archi PSS Architecture Database, Palais Jacqueline, 4 Boulevard Dubouchage, Nice]])) |
 +| Height | Approximately 21 metres (estimated roof height) |
 +| Number of stories | R+6 (ground floor plus six upper floors) |
 +| Function | Logements (residential apartments) |
 +| Land parcel | 1,059 m² (shared between No. 4 and No. 4 bis) |
 +| Current uses also registered | Medical consulting rooms (ophthalmology, orthoptics, psychiatry) at the address |
 +
 +==== The 1924 Date and Its Significance ====
 +
 +The year 1924 places our building squarely in the interwar period — the decade of Nice's Art Deco boom, when the city was rebuilding its identity after the First World War devastated the Belle Époque leisure world it had been built to serve. This was the same period in which the Bibliothèque Dubouchage at No. 21 bis was being redesigned (1924–25) — our home and our street's great library are therefore near-exact contemporaries, both constructed in the same twelve months of postwar cultural reconstruction.
 +
 +The Art Deco style of 1924 Nice is characterised by clean geometric lines, stylised ornament, reinforced concrete construction, and a confident modernity that rejected the historical eclecticism of the Belle Époque. Where the buildings that preceded it on the boulevard and throughout the Carabacel quarter dressed themselves in stucco cornices, classical pilasters, and naturalistic ironwork, a 1924 Art Deco immeuble would present a more streamlined facade — geometric balcony railings, stepped or banded horizontal decoration, and a verticality that expressed the structural possibilities of reinforced concrete.
 +
 +<note tip>
 +Looking up at our building's facade with the date 1924 and the style Art Deco in mind will allow us to read details that might otherwise seem merely functional. The geometry of the balcony ironwork, the treatment of the upper floors, the handling of the entrance surround — all of these will repay a slower, more attentive look now that we know what we are looking for.
 +</note>
 +
 +==== A Note on the Name ====
 +
 +The name "Jacqueline" is one of dozens of female first names used for Nice's residential palaces in the early 20th century. As the Wikipedia article on Nice's palaces notes, the term //palais// in Nice corresponds to the usage of the Niçois language — //palai// — and the Italian, where //palazzo// designates any residential building, whether noble or of simple construction. The usage was taken into French before and after the 1860 annexation and has persisted. ((Wikipedia, //Palais de Nice//, fr.wikipedia.org, 2025.)) The city's inventory of palaces named after women includes Adeila, Alexandra, Alice, Annette, Berthe, Christine, Édith, Erika, Graziella, Irena, Jacqueline, Juliette, Louise, and many others — each name typically associated with a family member of the developer or original owner.
 +
 +Who "Jacqueline" was — the wife, daughter, or other relation of whoever commissioned the building in 1924 — is a question that the building permit archives (fonds des permis de construire) held at the Archives Nice Côte d'Azur would be able to answer. The permit application should name both the commissioning party and the architect. ((Archives Nice Côte d'Azur, //Fonds des permis de construire//, archives.nicecotedazur.org. https://archives.nicecotedazur.org))
 +
 +<note>
 +A separate "Villa Jacqueline" exists at 20 rue Foncet, built from 1894 by architect Jean-Baptiste Blanchi, which appears in the regional heritage inventory and is a different building entirely. Some secondary sources conflate the two. Our Palais Jacqueline at 4 / 4 bis Boulevard Dubouchage is the 1924 Art Deco residential building listed in the PSS database under reference FR-06088-42084 and in the Wikipedia inventory of Nice's palaces. ((PSS Architecture Database, //Palais Jacqueline//, pss-archi.eu, FR-06088-42084.)) ((Regional Heritage Inventory PACA, //Immeubles jumelés dont immeuble dit Villa Jacqueline//, dossiersinventaire.maregionsud.fr, reference IA06004254.))
 +</note>
 +
 +==== The "Bis" Convention ====
 +
 +The French address convention of //bis// (and //ter// for a third building) is worth explaining for visitors and correspondents unfamiliar with it. In France, when a second independent structure occupies the same land parcel as a numbered address, it takes the suffix //bis// (from Latin, meaning "twice" or "again"). Our 4 bis therefore shares its 1,059 m² land parcel with 4 Boulevard Dubouchage, but is a distinct building — accessed through an archway, courtyard gate, or passage from the primary street facade. In the case of the Palais Jacqueline complex, the two addresses together form a single residential ensemble built in 1924 on the same plot.
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Our Neighbours: Notable Addresses on the Boulevard =====
 +
 +Our street contains an extraordinary concentration of buildings with documented historical significance. We list our neighbours in order of street number, moving from our southern end toward the northern end at Boulevard Carabacel.
 +
 +==== No. 1 — Galerie Portallier (former) ====
 +
 +At the very start of our street, where it meets Avenue Jean-Médecin, the story of Nice's first public art gallery begins. It was a private initiative — that of the antique dealer Portallier — that allowed the construction of the first monumental exhibition gallery, on the right bank of the Paillon, on Boulevard Dubouchage, specifically dedicated to the exhibition of works of art. The city's first art collections were transferred here in 1890, in the Galerie Portallier on Boulevard Dubouchage. Before the influx of donations, the building quickly became too small. By 1901 the collections had outgrown even this space and moved to a building at the corner of Avenue Notre-Dame and Rue Hancy — the precursor to today's Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret.
 +
 +We therefore live at the very end of a street that was, in the 1890s, the physical address of Nice's entire municipal fine art collection.
 +
 +==== No. 4 / 4 bis — Palais Jacqueline: Our Home ====
 +
 +The Palais Jacqueline — our own building — occupies the land parcel shared between No. 4 and No. 4 bis. Built in 1924 in the Art Deco style, it is a seven-storey residential building (ground floor plus six upper floors) approximately 21 metres in height, forming part of the coherent interwar building campaign that transformed the southern end of the boulevard in the 1920s. Its construction as a residential //palais// was part of the broader Nice practice of naming apartment buildings after female first names — a tradition documented in the Wikipedia inventory of the palaces of Nice across hundreds of buildings throughout the city.
 +
 +==== No. 21 bis — Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary ====
 +
 +This is one of the most important buildings on our street and one of the most historically layered structures in the whole of Nice. Louis Rambourg, a wealthy Parisian industrialist, commissioned this sumptuous residence in 1875 from Italian architect Bernardin Maraini. It later became the Villa Seigle, after the name of its new owner. In 1923, the City of Nice purchased it and had it entirely transformed into the municipal library by its architect Nicolas Anselmi, in collaboration with Clément Goyenèche. The villa was enlarged laterally and raised by a second floor, and the original facades were substantially reworked in a style approaching Art Nouveau. Of the original villa, only the staircase and the first-floor gallery would survive.
 +
 +The Bibliothèque Dubouchage was inaugurated on 8 April 1925. For a long time the main library of the city, it lost that title in 1987 with the opening of the central Lamartine library. In 2001, with the opening of the new central Louis Nucéra library on the Promenade des Arts, the Dubouchage site was dedicated to the heritage collections of Nice's municipal library network. On 3 June 2005, for the library's 80th anniversary, it took the name of the writer [[wp>Romain Gary]].
 +
 +The library has existed since 1925 but the building itself is considerably older. The Niçois, however, continue to call it the "bibliothèque Dubouchage." In front of the library, in Square Durandy, for many years on Sunday mornings there was a postcard and coin market and a stamp exchange.
 +
 +We walk past this building — our street's greatest architectural landmark — each time we leave our door heading north.
 +
 +<note tip>
 +The Bibliothèque Romain Gary holds heritage collections including old maps of Nice, 19th-century photographs, and historical documentation of the Carabacel quarter. As residents of the boulevard, we have a particular reason to request the archivists' assistance with historical research into our street and building. The library is open to the public for research purposes: 21 bis Boulevard Dubouchage; Tram Line 1 stop Jean Médecin. ((Bibliothèques de Nice, //Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary//, bmvr.nice.fr. https://bmvr.nice.fr/Default/bibliotheque-patrimoniale-romain-gary.aspx))
 +</note>
 +
 +==== No. 27 — L'Artistique, Centre d'Arts et de Culture ====
 +
 +If the library at No. 21 bis represents our street's institutional cultural life, No. 27 represents its bohemian, social, and artistic soul. In 1910, at its last move, the Cercle de l'Artistique installed itself permanently at 27 Boulevard Dubouchage — fifteen years after the founding dinner at which a handful of Niçois had braved fate by sitting thirteen at a table.
 +
 +The Cercle de l'Artistique had been founded in 1895 with the explicit aim of promoting Niçois artists and writers. In 1911, the villa was augmented with a small theatre and hosted major cultural events — including in 1908 an exhibition on Fragonard, in 1912 a performance of //Pelléas et Mélisande// by Maurice Maeterlinck, and in 1913 an exhibition of watercolours by G.-A. Mossa.
 +
 +The membership list reads like a roll-call of Belle Époque European culture: by 1921, the Artistique counted among its members Jules Chéret, Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Maeterlinck, Félix Ziem, Édouard Herriot, and others. Dr Ferrier spent long hours at the piano noting the songs that elderly Niçois came to sing to him, which he would publish in his //Recueil de Chansons Niçoises//.
 +
 +The theatre hall inaugurated in 1911 received the Comédie-Française, Colette, and Maeterlinck. And in a remarkable instance of the circle turning, in the building's later decades of decline, the artist Ben — founder of the École de Nice and a figure central to international conceptual art — rented the hall for several evenings, keeping the spirit of artistic experiment alive on our boulevard.
 +
 +Today, L'Artistique continues as a City of Nice cultural venue at the same address, offering contemporary art exhibitions and cultural programming. It is accessible by Tram Lines 1 and 2 at Jean Médecin, or by Bus Line 5 at the Deloye-Dubouchage stop.
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== The Cultural Life of Our Street =====
 +
 +When we consider the full arc of our street's documented cultural history, what emerges is a boulevard that has been at the centre of Nice's artistic and intellectual life for over 130 years. We can summarise this history in sequence:
 +
 +^ Date ^ Event ^ Address ^
 +| 1875 | Villa Rambourg commissioned from architect Bernardin Maraini | No. 21 bis |
 +| 1889 | Galerie Portallier opens; Nice's first art collections exhibited on our street | No. 1 |
 +| 1895 | Cercle de l'Artistique founded; eventually settles at No. 27 | No. 27 |
 +| 1899–1902 | City of Nice rents Galerie Portallier for municipal fine art collection | No. 1 |
 +| 1903 | Palais Dubouchage wins silver medal at Nice municipal architecture competition | No. 15 |
 +| 1908 | Fragonard exhibition at L'Artistique | No. 27 |
 +| 1910 | Cercle de l'Artistique moves permanently to Boulevard Dubouchage | No. 27 |
 +| 1911 | Theatre added to L'Artistique; Comédie-Française performs there | No. 27 |
 +| 1912 | Performance of Maeterlinck's //Pelléas et Mélisande// at L'Artistique | No. 27 |
 +| 1913 | Exhibition of watercolours by G.-A. Mossa at L'Artistique | No. 27 |
 +| 1921 | L'Artistique membership includes Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Massenet | No. 27 |
 +| 1923 | City of Nice purchases Villa Rambourg for conversion to library | No. 21 bis |
 +| 1924 | Palais Jacqueline (our building) constructed in Art Deco style | No. 4 / 4 bis |
 +| 1925 | Bibliothèque Dubouchage inaugurated (8 April) | No. 21 bis |
 +| 1927–1928 | Romain Gary and his mother arrive in Nice and settle in the city | Boulevard vicinity |
 +| 2005 | Bibliothèque Dubouchage renamed Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary | No. 21 bis |
 +| 2017–2019 | Major renovation and restoration of the library building | No. 21 bis |
 +
 +<note>
 +The Cercle de l'Artistique's membership list is, by any measure, extraordinary. That Massenet, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, and Fauré — four of the most significant composers of the late 19th century — were all members of a club on our street tells us something important about what our neighbourhood represented in the Belle Époque: not a provincial backwater but a genuine centre of European cultural gravity, where the winter migration of artists, aristocrats, and intellectuals created a concentrated cultural life unlike anywhere else in France outside Paris.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Romain Gary: Our Boulevard's Most Celebrated Connection =====
 +
 +The name on our street's most prominent building belongs to one of the most extraordinary figures in 20th-century French literature, and his story is bound to the streets of our neighbourhood in a way that makes his name feel genuinely local rather than merely honorary.
 +
 +Roman Kacew, born in 1914 in what is now Lithuania, arrived in Nice at the age of 14 with his mother. It was here that he would francise his first name to Romain. They arrived in Nice in 1927, spending a few months in a small apartment on Avenue Shakespeare, before moving to the Hôtel-Pension Mermonts, where his mother had obtained the managership, on Boulevard Carlonne — today 7 Boulevard François-Grosso. They were in the Russian quarter of Nice, populated by exiles from the Tsarist era.
 +
 +Romain Gary lived in Nice between 1928 and 1934. These were his formative years as a writer — the years in which he learned to write in French with the ambition and precision that would eventually earn him two Prix Goncourt, the only writer in history to achieve this distinction. ((Gary won the Prix Goncourt in 1956 for //Les Racines du ciel// under his own name, and again in 1975 under the pseudonym Émile Ajar for //La Vie devant soi//. The dual-win only became public after his death in 1980.))
 +
 +He wrote of Nice with deep affection throughout his life, calling it — as the epigraph to this entry records — "ma chère ville presque natale": my dear almost-native city. His autobiographical novel //La Promesse de l'Aube// (//Promise at Dawn//, 1960) is the essential literary record of his Nice years — an account of his remarkable, fiercely ambitious mother and the city that shaped his identity as a French writer and Free French aviator.
 +
 +The library that bears his name sits on the boulevard Dubouchage, a former bourgeois villa that was once one of the most beautiful houses in the city. Behind its columns and palm trees lies an unexpected story: that of a major writer who was not even Niçois by birth — but who arrived as an adolescent and found his voice, his language, and his literary identity in this city.
 +
 +<note tip>
 +//La Promesse de l'Aube// (//Promise at Dawn//) is available in the library that bears Gary's name — a pleasing circularity. The novel's Nice passages give the most vivid literary description of our neighbourhood in the interwar period that we know of, describing streets, cafés, social life, and the particular quality of Mediterranean light that shaped his writing. We recommend it as essential reading for residents of our boulevard.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Our Location in the Quartier Carabacel =====
 +
 +Our address places us in the Quartier Carabacel — the second oldest urban district in Nice after the Old Town. The Carabacel quarter is bordered by Boulevard Carabacel to the east, Avenue Félix Faure to the south, Boulevard Dubouchage to the north, and Avenue Jean Médecin to the west, and its buildings with colourful facades were mostly built between 1850 and 1900. Our boulevard is therefore literally the northern boundary of this cohesive 19th-century urban block.
 +
 +The etymology of "Carabacel" reaches deep into the pre-urban landscape of Nice. Car in Celtic means hill, mount, or rock. It is probable that the hill served as a quarry while the Château hill had a defensive function. During the Middle Ages, the territory of the Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste appeared on plans and notarial records. The Carabacel hill was long cultivated with olive trees.
 +
 +Our immediate surroundings include:
 +
 +^ Landmark ^ Distance from our door ^ Notes ^
 +| Place Masséna | ~3 min walk south | The city's central square; Tram lines 1 and 2 |
 +| Promenade du Paillon | ~4 min walk south | City park along the covered Paillon river; fountains, shade, MAMAC |
 +| Bibliothèque Romain Gary | ~2 min walk north | Heritage library; our street's landmark building |
 +| L'Artistique cultural centre | ~5 min walk north | Contemporary art; historic theatre; city-run cultural programming |
 +| Tram stop Jean Médecin | ~3 min walk | Lines 1 and 2; direct to airport, Vieux Nice, Port Lympia |
 +| Tram stop Durandy | ~2 min walk | Named after the square in front of the library |
 +| Vieux Nice | ~10 min walk east | The Old Town; Baroque churches; Cours Saleya market |
 +| Cours Saleya flower market | ~12 min walk | Daily except Monday; open from early morning |
 +| Promenade des Anglais | ~10 min walk south | The seafront boulevard; beach access |
 +| Musée Masséna | ~12 min walk southwest | Portrait of the Comte du Bouchage, our street's namesake |
 +
 +<note>
 +Our position at the southern end of Boulevard Dubouchage is arguably the most convenient address on the entire street. We have immediate access to the tram network, the city park, the market, and the old town on foot, while being just far enough from the tourist core to inhabit a genuinely residential neighbourhood with butchers, bakers, pharmacies, and the daily infrastructure of Niçois life rather than souvenir shops and tourist restaurants.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Walking Our Street: A Short Literary and Historical Stroll =====
 +
 +^ Distance ^ Duration ^ Difficulty ^ Best time ^
 +| 700 m one-way | 20–30 minutes at a reading pace | Easy (flat) | Morning or early evening |
 +
 +We propose this as a short walk we can take from our front door — a literary and historical promenade along the length of our own boulevard that most visitors to Nice will never make.
 +
 +==== Step 1: Outside No. 4 bis — Our Starting Point ====
 +
 +We begin at the southern end of the boulevard, where it meets Avenue Jean-Médecin. Before turning north, glance south: the great commercial spine of the city extends toward Place Masséna, with the tram running at street level. This is the artery that replaced the old paved Roman route (the Empeyrat) as the city's primary north–south axis.
 +
 +==== Step 2: Turn North — The Plane Trees and No. 1 ====
 +
 +The plane trees lining both sides create an immediate shift in atmosphere — quieter, more residential, more shaded. The building at No. 1 on the corner once housed Nice's first public art gallery, the Galerie Portallier, where the city's entire fine art collection was exhibited from 1889 to 1901. We walk past a building that was, effectively, the first Musée des Beaux-Arts of Nice.
 +
 +==== Step 3: Nos. 4–15 — The Belle Époque Facades ====
 +
 +The residential facades along this stretch — built largely between 1870 and 1900 — display the characteristic Belle Époque vocabulary of stucco detail, wrought-iron balconies, and tall shuttered windows. No. 15, the Palais Dubouchage, won the silver medal at the municipal architecture competition of 1903 — an early example of Nice's practice of formally rewarding architectural quality in private construction.
 +
 +==== Step 4: No. 21 bis — The Bibliothèque Romain Gary ====
 +
 +This is the building that defines our street. Stand before its facade and consider its layers: the library has existed since 1925, but the building is considerably older — a private villa of the 1870s, redesigned in the 1920s in a style approaching Art Nouveau, and bearing since 2005 the name of a Lithuanian-born, Russian-raised, French-identified writer who found his literary voice in the streets around our home.
 +
 +The Square Durandy in front of the library was, for many years, the site of the Sunday morning postcard, coin, and stamp market — the kind of gentle, local, slow institution that cities lose quietly and mourn loudly. Its memory lives in the square's character: still a pleasant place to sit.
 +
 +==== Step 5: No. 27 — L'Artistique ====
 +
 +Here, in 1921, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Massenet were all members of the same arts club. Here, the Comédie-Française performed. Here, Maeterlinck — the Belgian Nobel laureate who would later die in Nice and who built his villa Orlamonde on the Côte d'Azur — saw his work performed. The building is now a City of Nice cultural centre. We can enter freely and see what is showing.
 +
 +==== Step 6: Boulevard Carabacel — The Turn and Return ====
 +
 +At the northern end of our boulevard, we reach Boulevard Carabacel. We then return south along the opposite pavement. On the return, the facades read differently: we see the building forms from the other side, the light has changed, and we begin to understand our boulevard not as a thoroughfare but as an inhabited room — with its library at one end and the city at the other, and our home quietly at the southern threshold between the two.
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Further Research =====
 +
 +For those of us who wish to research our building's history more deeply, we recommend the following resources:
 +
 +^ Resource ^ What it holds ^ Access ^
 +| Archives Nice Côte d'Azur | Cadastral plans, building permits, historic photographs, Dubouchage quarter documentation | 2 rue Auguste Gal, Nice; online search at archives.nicecotedazur.org |
 +| Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary | Historic maps, 19th-century photographs, local history collection | 21 bis Boulevard Dubouchage; open to public researchers |
 +| Musée Masséna | Portrait of the Comte du Bouchage; historical collections of Nice under French and Savoyard rule | 65 Rue de France; free admission |
 +| PACA Architectural Inventory | Documented building records for the Alpes-Maritimes including some Boulevard Dubouchage addresses | pss-archi.eu (online); Région PACA heritage database |
 +| Nice, Vie des Quartiers No. 34 | The definitive published history of the Dubouchage quarter (May–June 2018) | Available at the Romain Gary library; digitised version at archives.nicecotedazur.org |
 +
 +<note warning>
 +Online sources for specific building histories in Nice vary widely in accuracy. The only authoritative sources for our building's construction date and architect are the original cadastral and building permit records held at the Archives Nice Côte d'Azur. Secondary websites, real estate listings, and property databases should be treated as indicative rather than definitive.
 +</note>
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== Quick Reference Card =====
 +
 +//Print or save for use as a ready reference at our address.//
 +
 +**Our address:** 4 bis Boulevard Dubouchage, 06000 Nice, France
 +
 +**Our building:** Palais Jacqueline — built 1924, Art Deco style, 7 storeys (~21 m), residential apartments
 +
 +**Our quarter:** Quartier Carabacel — second oldest urban district in Nice; buildings largely 1850–1900 (our building 1924)
 +
 +**Our street:** Named after Marc Joseph du Gratet, Comte du Bouchage — French prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, 1803–1814; known for attentive local governance
 +
 +**Our street's former name:** Boulevard de l'Empeyrat ("paved road" in Provençal)
 +
 +**Key neighbours by number:**
 +  * No. 1: Former Galerie Portallier (Nice's first public art gallery, 1889–1901)
 +  * No. 15: Palais Dubouchage (silver medal, Nice architecture competition, 1903)
 +  * No. 21 bis: Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary (villa 1875; library since 1925)
 +  * No. 27: L'Artistique (arts club est. 1895; theatre 1911; members included Puccini, Fauré, Saint-Saëns)
 +
 +**The writer on our library:** Romain Gary — born Lithuania 1914; Nice 1927–1934; Prix Goncourt 1956 and 1975 (unique in French literary history); author of //La Promesse de l'Aube//
 +
 +**Nearest tram:** Stop Jean Médecin (Lines 1 and 2) — ~3 min walk south; Stop Durandy — ~2 min walk north
 +
 +**Research archive:** Archives Nice Côte d'Azur — 2 rue Auguste Gal, Nice; archives.nicecotedazur.org
 +
 +**Key open question about our building:** Identity of the architect and the original owner/commissioner "Jacqueline" — to be confirmed from the building permit archives (fonds des permis de construire) at the Archives Nice Côte d'Azur
 +
 +-----
 +
 +===== References =====
 +
 +  - Archives Nice Côte d'Azur. (2018). //Nice, Vie des Quartiers — Dubouchage// (No. 34, May–June 2018). https://archives.nicecotedazur.org/quartiers/nice-vie-des-quartiers-dubouchage/
 +  - PSS-Archi. (n.d.). //Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary, Nice//. pss-archi.eu. https://www.pss-archi.eu/immeubles/FR-06088-42082.html
 +  - Bibliothèques de Nice / BMVR. (2025). //Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary//. bmvr.nice.fr. https://bmvr.nice.fr/Default/bibliotheque-patrimoniale-romain-gary.aspx
 +  - Nice Presse. (2024, July 22). //À la découverte des 1000 trésors de la bibliothèque Romain-Gary, dans le centre de Nice//. nicepresse.com. https://nicepresse.com/a-la-decouverte-des-1000-tresors-de-la-bibliotheque-romain-gary-dans-le-centre-de-nice/
 +  - France Bleu Côte d'Azur. (2024, June 17). //Pourquoi la plus ancienne bibliothèque de Nice s'appelle-t-elle Romain Gary?// francebleu.fr. https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/les-pourquoi-de-la-cote-d-azur/pourquoi-la-plus-ancienne-bibliotheque-de-nice-s-appelle-t-elle-romain-gary-3341173
 +  - France Bleu Côte d'Azur. (2025, November 14). //Pourquoi la plus vieille bibliothèque de Nice porte le nom de Romain Gary//. francebleu.fr. https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/1000-raisons-d-aimer-la-cote-d-azur/pourquoi-la-plus-vieille-bibliotheque-de-nice-porte-le-nom-de-romain-gary-6125823
 +  - Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFr) / Bibliothèque Nationale de France. (n.d.). //Bibliothèque Patrimoniale Romain Gary, Nice//. ccfr.bnf.fr. https://ccfr.bnf.fr/portailccfr/ark:/16871/00211769
 +  - Provence 7. (2022). //Carabacel — Quartier-Village à Visiter à Nice//. provence7.com. https://www.provence7.com/a-a-z-des-articles/carabacel-quartier-village-a-visiter-a-nice-06/
 +  - Chez Lola Gassin. (2016, June 23). //L'Artistique, devenu Théâtre de la Photographie et de l'Image//. chezlolagassin.com. https://chezlolagassin.com/lartistique-devenu-theatre-de-la-photographie-et-de-limage/
 +  - Théâtres de la Ville de Nice. (n.d.). //L'Artistique — Centre d'Arts et de Culture & Espace Ferrero//. theatres.nice.fr. https://theatres.nice.fr/lieu/artistique-l-centre-darts-et-de-culture-espace-ferrero
 +  - Archives Nice Côte d'Azur / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice. (2021). //La Bataille des Beaux-Arts — Art et Politique au XIXe Siècle//. archives.nicecotedazur.org. https://archives.nicecotedazur.org/expo/la-bataille-des-beaux-arts-art-et-politique-a-nice-au-xixe-siecle/
 +  - Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret, Nice. (2024). //Dossier de Presse — La Bataille des Beaux-Arts//. musee-beaux-arts-nice.org. https://www.musee-beaux-arts-nice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/dossier-presse-expo-bataille-beaux-arts.pdf
 +  - Cultivez-vous Nice. (n.d.). //Le Musée des Beaux-Arts au Croisement de l'Art et de la Politique à Nice au XIXe Siècle//. cultivez-vous.nice.fr. https://cultivez-vous.nice.fr/patrimoine/le-musee-des-beaux-arts-au-croisement-de-lart-et-de-la-politique-a-nice-au-xixe-siecle/
 +  - Terres d'Écrivains. (n.d.). //Sur les Pas des Écrivains: Romain Gary à Nice, Aix, Paris//. terresdecrivains.com. http://www.terresdecrivains.com/romain-gary-a-nice-aix-paris
 +  - Mon Quartier. (2023, January 5). //Le Flamboyant Romain Gary//. monquartier.biz. https://www.monquartier.biz/article-23082847.html
 +  - ICI / France Bleu. (2023). //Nice, Vie des Quartiers: Romain Gary et la Bibliothèque Dubouchage//. francebleu.fr.
 +  - BMVR Nice. (n.d.). //Présentation de la bibliothèque Dubouchage//. bmvr.nice.fr. http://vnicbibhbr01.cloudapp.net/EXPLOITATION/bmvr.aspx
 +  - Agence Gounod. (2023). //Le Boulevard Dubouchage à Nice: Architecture et Vie de Quartier//. agencegounod.com.
 +  - Archives Nice Côte d'Azur. (n.d.). //Fonds Cadastraux et Permis de Construire//. archives.nicecotedazur.org. https://archives.nicecotedazur.org
 +  - PSS Architecture Database. (n.d.). //Palais Jacqueline — 4 Boulevard Dubouchage, Nice// (reference FR-06088-42084). pss-archi.eu. https://www.pss-archi.eu/immeubles/FR-06088-42084.html
 +  - Wikipedia (French edition). (2025). //Liste des palais de Nice//. fr.wikipedia.org. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_palais_de_Nice
 +  - Wikipedia (French edition). (2025). //Palais de Nice//. fr.wikipedia.org. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_de_Nice
 +  - Regional Heritage Inventory PACA. (n.d.). //Immeubles jumelés dont immeuble dit Villa Jacqueline — 18 et 20 rue Foncet, Nice// (reference IA06004254). dossiersinventaire.maregionsud.fr. https://dossiersinventaire.maregionsud.fr/dossier/IA06004254
 +
 +-----
 +
 +//Last reviewed: March 2026. This entry is a living document — we welcome corrections, additions, or archival discoveries from any resident or researcher who can deepen the record of our address.//
 +
 +//This entry draws primarily on the digitised archives of Nice Côte d'Azur, the PSS national architectural database, the Wikipedia inventory of the palaces of Nice, and published histories of the Carabacel quarter. The building's name (Palais Jacqueline), construction date (1924), architectural style (Art Deco), and physical dimensions are now confirmed. The identity of the architect and the person after whom the building is named remain open questions for further archival research.//