Albert Camus
Lived here · 1940
Camus moved to the Hôtel Madison, facing the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, at the start of June 1940 — the month Paris fell — putting him at the junction that became the centre of postwar French intellectual life.
Hôtel Madison
Still standing
In, as a customer
Still the same
The hotel facing the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés where Albert Camus lived from June 1940 — putting him, from the month Paris fell, at the centre of the quarter that would define postwar French intellectual life.
- 143 boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris
- Camus lived here from June 1940
The place, briefly
Albert Camus moved to the Hôtel Madison, 143 boulevard Saint-Germain, at the start of June 1940, directly opposite the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He had finished L'Étranger the previous month in a Montmartre hotel room at 16 rue Ravignan.
The address put him on the exact junction that mattered. The Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots and Brasserie Lipp are all within a minute of the door, and the square between them is now the place Sartre-Beauvoir. What became the postwar intellectual capital of France was, for Camus, the view from his hotel.
The timing again is not incidental. June 1940 is the month Paris fell. Camus was in Saint-Germain through the Occupation, worked on the clandestine paper Combat, and came out of the war as one of the most visible writers in the country — a position he then spent years in public argument over, most famously with Sartre, in the cafés a few metres from this building.
The Madison is still a hotel at the same address, which makes it one of the more enterable stops on a Camus walk.
Key facts
- From early June 1940
- 143 boulevard Saint-Germain, facing the church
- The Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots and Brasserie Lipp
- He had finished L'Étranger in Montmartre the month before
- Paris fell that June; Camus spent the Occupation in the quarter
- Still a hotel at the same address
Timeline
Camus finishes L'Étranger at the Hôtel du Poirier in Montmartre.
He moves to the Hôtel Madison on the boulevard Saint-Germain; Paris falls.
L'Étranger is published.
He works on the clandestine paper Combat and becomes a central figure of Saint-Germain.
On the map
Questions before you go
Where did Albert Camus live in Paris?
From early June 1940 at the Hôtel Madison, 143 boulevard Saint-Germain, directly facing the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He had finished L'Étranger the previous month in a Montmartre hotel room.
Why does the location matter?
Because it put him at the exact junction that became the centre of postwar French intellectual life. The Flore, the Deux Magots and Lipp are all within a minute of the door, and the square between them is now named for Sartre and Beauvoir — the people Camus would spend years arguing with in those cafés.
Can you stay at the Hôtel Madison?
Yes — it still operates as a hotel at the same address, which makes it one of the few Camus locations you can actually go into. The Montmartre hotel where he finished L'Étranger has been demolished.
Writers who knew this place
Within walking distance
Place Jean-Paul-Sartre-et-Simone-de-Beauvoir
A small square in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, renamed in 2000 for Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir together — a few steps from the Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, where they worked.
Visit the place
Les Deux Magots
The famous literary terrace where the expat crowd gathered. Ernest Hemingway came here, though he preferred La Closerie for actual work.
Visit the place
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The Left Bank quarter around the abbey church, where the cafés doubled as offices and the bars above and below them ran the other half of post-war Paris.
Visit the place
Brasserie Lipp
Beer, potato salad, and choucroute after a day's work. Ernest Hemingway considered it one of the best places in Paris.
Visit the placeThe 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.