Colette
Lived here · 1906–1908
A ground-floor apartment Colette rented on her own after leaving Willy; the building was demolished around 1908 and the street later renamed rue Paul-Valéry.
44 rue de Villejust
Demolished
Outside only
Nothing survives
The ground-floor apartment Colette rented on her own after leaving Willy, remembered as a place of new independence. The building no longer exists.
- rue Paul-Valéry (formerly rue de Villejust), 75116 Paris
- 1906–1908
No photograph survives
The place, briefly
When Colette separated from Willy in 1906 she rented a ground-floor apartment of her own at 44 rue de Villejust, and remembered it as a place of hard-won independence in the first years of her stage career. She kept it while also living much of the time with Missy nearby.
The lease was short-lived: the building was scheduled for demolition around 1908, which forced her out. The street was later renamed rue Paul-Valéry, and nothing of Colette's address survives. It belongs on her map as a historical site rather than a place to visit.
Key facts
- 44 rue de Villejust — the street is now rue Paul-Valéry, 16th arrondissement
- Colette, on her own, after leaving Willy
- 1906–1908
- Demolished; nothing of the building survives
In images
Timeline
Colette rents a ground-floor apartment at 44 rue de Villejust after separating from Willy.
The building is slated for demolition and she has to leave; the street is later renamed rue Paul-Valéry.
On the map
Writers who knew this place
Within walking distance
44 rue de l'Amiral-Hamelin
Marcel Proust's last address, and the flat he hated. He moved here in 1919 when 102 boulevard Haussmann was sold out from under him, called it an ignoble hovel, finished correcting his novel here, and died in the building on 18 November 1922.
Visit the place
2 rue Georges-Ville
The home of Mathilde de Morny — Missy — where Colette lived through much of their relationship after leaving Willy.
Visit the place
3 place des États-Unis
Where Edith Wharton stayed with her brother when she arrived in Paris in 1906 — the beginning of the move that would take her out of America permanently.
Visit the place
40 rue Paul-Valéry
The house Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet had built for themselves in the early 1880s on what was then the rue de Villejust — her home, her studio, and the setting of a salon that drew Renoir, Degas and Mallarmé.
Visit the placeReferences
References
The sources below include histories, archival materials, scholarly research, and official records that informed this page. They document 44 rue de Villejust, the people connected to it, and its place in Paris.
1Société des amis de Colette — Lieux de vie
WebsiteUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the 44 rue de Villejust page.
2Sur les pas des écrivains : Colette
WebsiteTerres d'écrivainsUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the 44 rue de Villejust page.
3OpenStreetMap
Map dataUsed forMap data used to verify addresses, geographic coordinates, and the placement associated with 44 rue de Villejust.
4Société des amis de Colette — Chronology
WebsiteUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the 44 rue de Villejust page.
i
Why these sources are here
These references provide the documented foundation for this page's history and context. Claim-level citations remain attached to the specific claims they support.
Explore more resourcesNewsletter
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.