The Paris AtlasCharting the artists, works, and places worth returning to.

Apartment · Quartier de l'Europe (8th) · 8e arrondissement

42 rue de Londres

The buildingStill standing
Getting inOutside only
What's there nowSomeone else

Private and unmarked.

One of Claude Debussy's documented Paris homes, and his address until around 1894 — the years in which he wrote the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and began Pelléas et Mélisande.

Address
42 rue de Londres, 75008 Paris
Years
One of Debussy's Paris addresses, until around 1894

The place, briefly

Claude Debussy lived at 42 rue de Londres until roughly 1894. He was in his early thirties, poor, and in the middle of the most decisive stretch of work in his life.

The Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune was completed and first performed in 1894. He had also begun Pelléas et Mélisande, the opera that would take him the better part of a decade. Neither had yet made him any money: Debussy in these years was living on lessons, small commissions and credit, in a quarter of narrow streets behind the Gare Saint-Lazare.

The building is private and carries no marker.

Key facts

Debussy lived here
Until around 1894
Written in these years
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; the beginnings of Pelléas et Mélisande
Quarter
The Europe district, behind the Gare Saint-Lazare
Access
Private — exterior only

Timeline

  1. 1894

    The Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is first performed; Debussy is living at this address.

On the map

Questions before you go

What did Debussy write while living on the rue de Londres?

The years to around 1894 produced the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and the earliest work on the opera Pelléas et Mélisande.

People who knew this place

Illustrated portrait of Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

French · Musician, Critic

One of Debussy's documented Paris homes, his address until around 1894 - the years of the Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune and the first work on Pelleas et Melisande.

Within walking distance

The Friday Letter

Paris, one address at a time.

The cafés, studios, and walk-up flats where the work was made — one story from the map in every letter.

One email a week. No spam, no selling your address. Unsubscribe anytime.