Suresnes

Suresnes, a town with an eclectic architecture, surprises by its past full of history. Indeed, it had a role in the wars that raged in France because of its fortress, but it has also seduced throughout its history, Parisians looking for a bucolic place close to Paris. From the Mont Valérien to its guinguettes, the city boasts luxury goods and suburban residences, alongside the active life of the city centre and its numerous infrastructures. While from the Cité Jardin to the English Village, the past borders modernity, with typical British houses against tall buildings surrounded by green spaces stand nearby. Diversity is therefore the strength of Suresnes, and this is its watchword, as it has a wide variety of properties and neighborhoods that can attract a wide range of buyers. Very well connected, Suresnes has seen its real estate market explode in recent years, and its gentle way of life alongside an active lifestyle is attracting more and more buyers. Paris Ouest Sotheby's International Realty thus opens its market to this promising town and offers you properties, from villas to luxury apartments. 

Until the middle of the 19th century, Suresnes was only a village, wedged between the banks of the Seine and the Mont Valérien, on the slopes of which the Romans had planted vines. Also grow cereals and fruit trees in a rural environment.
In the 17th century, the construction of a Calvary, on the mount at the foot of which is the Tertre fountain, which is said to be miraculous, attracted pilgrims to attack 100 steps and steep paths marked out by seven small chapels. At the time, a simple ferry links the wood to the small town, where pilgrims take advantage of the sweetness of the cabarets, quench their thirst in the white vineyards of Suresnes and a few wealthy Parisians build beautiful residences with gardens.
Today, Suresnes, backed by Paris by the Bois de Boulogne, is a city of 50,000 inhabitants where life is good, to the rhythm of the Zola and Caron markets; a few vines remain close to the American cemetery, the Resistance wall and the renowned Foch Hospital. You can enjoy a breathtaking view of Paris from the top of the Fécheray terrace. It is thus common to say that Suresnes is a country town at the gates of Paris, offering a more soothing living environment, as revealed by its motto "No one comes out of Suresnes, who often does not return there"

It was not until 1850 that the current fortress was built. With its characteristic star shape, its high walls and its wide moats, it constitutes one of the most important pillars of the enclosure imagined by Thiers to defend Paris. Thus, Mont Valérien passes from a place of pilgrimage to a key element of several wars. It was marked by the Franco-Prussian War, where it served as a powerful defense against German soldiers, but also by the First World War, where it became the benchmark for military transmissions, as well as by the construction of the American cemetery in 1917. Finally, during the Second World War, the fort was occupied by the German army; it's a garrison. It was not until 1944 that the colours of the French flag sprang from the fort, which then definitively belonged to France. Today, while being a museum, it retains the imprint of world wars and its role in transmissions.

Rue de la Tuilerie: A remarkable element is to be emphasized in this street; in fact, there still remains the house where an Indo-American spy lived. In fact, Noor Inayat Khan, daughter of a musician, grew up in Suresnes in the 1920s, and when the Second World War broke out, she decided to fight with France by joining the Resistance. She was betrayed and killed while working as a radio operator. Today, a school in Suresnes bears his name in tribute to his bravery.

Foch Hospital and demeure Worth: At the request of the famous fashion designer Charles-Frédéric Worth in 1867, Denis Darcy, renowned architect, completed the construction of the Worth house. This exceptional building, of extreme luxury, extends over 15,000 m2 and was made up of various gardens bordering the house with both Florentine and medieval architecture. It should be noted that in these gardens, were exposed many elements coming from the castle of the Tuileries burnt down in 1871. This construction was destroyed by the couturier's son, Frédéric, from 1892, and the remains of the castle of the Tuileries recovered by the department of Seine Maritime. There remains only the door on avenue F. Roosevelt; the Balsan pavilion was built at the same time as the castle was destroyed (in 1892, therefore)… it still exists at the entrance to the Foch hospital, itself built from 1932 to 1936 on this large plot of one hectare and half left fallow since 1892.

Industrial development, the construction of a bridge and the arrival of the railroad allowed the development of Suresnes. Parisians come to have fun in the taverns like Le Père Lapin, formerly known as La Maison Verte, with a very bad reputation, before becoming a must on Sundays in the countryside, as well as the neighboring Longchamp racecourse. The revolution of 1848 took with it the castle of Baron de Rothschild, and the Château de la Source, from which the Park still survives, which shelters a foundation where Adèle Hugo took refuge on the death of her father. At the edge of the Seine quays, this space still seduces with its flora and fauna, the pavilions surrounding it offer a serene and family life.

Then many factories are installed there, and the city grows, in a somewhat empirical way, from the Seine to the flanks of Mont Valérien. The streets of Suresnes still bear the names of the industrialists of the time, the couturier Worth lived there, and François Coty set up his perfume workshops there. Henri Sellier, future mayor of Suresnes, built the Cité Jardin to house workers there with dignity. It is thus easily remarkable that the streets bear the name of humanist thinkers, like Grotius or Jean Jaurès. La Cité Jardin is therefore in the image of these thinkers, combining buildings and pavilions, offering a peaceful life thanks to places of worship, school and cultural spaces. The imprint of the 1920s is preserved until today, offering passers-by a journey back in time.

The “English village” (“Village Anglais”), such is the name given to the housing estate built in 1920, it derives this name from its typically British architecture. These homogeneous houses, aligned along a street, a pleasant place to stroll, facing colorful façades like rue de La Belle Gabrielle. Today, the heart of the city retains its original architecture.

Boulevard Henri Sellier: its name serving as a tribute to the former mayor of Suresnes, boulevard Henri Sellier was initially designed to respond to the increasing influx of visitors. It is the largest boulevard in Suresnes and connects the bridge to Boulevard de République. First bearing the name of boulevard de Versailles, the boulevard underwent several modifications. It is now possible to walk there, in particular to visit the Coty factory.