Puteaux: Guide

Puteaux is a center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.

La Défense, Paris' Central business district|business district hosting the List of tallest structures in Paris|tallest buildings in the metropolitan area, spreads over the northern part of Puteaux (the district being also divided between Courbevoie and Nanterre).

The inhabitants of Puteaux are called Putéoliens.

Geography

Located on the left bank of the river Seine, Puteaux borders Courbevoie to the north, Nanterre to the west and Suresnes to the south. In the east, Puteaux is connected to Paris by the bridge of Puteaux near Neuilly-sur-Seine and by the bridge of Neuilly (which is also used by Paris Metro Line 1). The territory of the commune of Puteaux also includes the largest part of the Île de Puteaux, on the Seine.

Districts

Within Puteaux several districts can be distinguished.

The district Bas de Puteaux, located between the railway line and the Seine, is the oldest urbanized district. Notable in particular are the old church, the Théâtre des Hauts-de-Seine, the town hall and a commercial shopping mall near the rues Jaurès, Eichenberger and Chantecoq. The town hall was built in 1934 and is a typical example of the architecture of this time. The boulevard Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet|Richard Wallace is the Champs-Élysées of Puteaux.

The district Haut de Puteaux, located to the east of the railway line, is a more recent district, made of several residences and HLM (résidences des rosiers, Cartault, Marcellin Berthelot, Bernard Palissy) The Lorilleux residence, for example, was built on the site of the old ink manufacturing companies.

The district La Défense is located in the north, separated by the circular boulevard. The district, developed since the end of the 1950s, is one of the principal business districts in Europe. It mainly consists of office buildings, but some notable dwellings can be found within the district as well (Tour Défense 2000, résidence Boieldieu). Two thirds of the territory of La Défense is located within Puteaux, the remainder being divided between Courbevoie and Nanterre. Thus, the Center of New Industries and Technologies|CNIT, the Grande Arche|Arche de la Défense and the Quatre Temps shopping mall are in Puteaux.

The district Île de Puteaux, on which there are no dwellings besides some barges, shelters the sporting structures (tennis courts, Football (soccer)|football Football pitch|pitch, gymnasium, swimming pool) of Puteaux. A sporting complex, the Palais des sports, opened in July 2006.

Economy

The tax revenue of La Défense makes Puteaux one of the richest communes of France. Puteaux receives forty million euros per year coming from the companies within the district alone. Puteaux does not have a debt and its financial reserves, placed in Treasury bills, brings back each year ten million euros only in interest. The budget of Puteaux can thus exceed 200 million euros (reference 2005), for only 42.000 inhabitants.

Puteaux has a long industrial past, in particular the car industry (De Dion-Bouton, but also Unic, Saurer and Daimler-Benz), aeronautics : (Zodiac), the armament industry : Atelier de Construction de Puteaux (APX), inks (Charles Lorilleux) and perfumes (Coty).

Politics

Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud (UMP) has been mayor of Puteaux from 1969 to 2004. In 2004 he was succeeded by his daughter Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud (UMP). She is also temporarily appointed as a Member of Parliament for the 6th district of Hauts-de-Seine (Puteaux/Neuilly-sur-Seine) instead of Nicolas Sarkozy.

The rule of Puteaux by Ceccaldi-Raynaud is considerid authoritative by certain people (the opposition but sometimes also certain people of their own political camp in Hauts-de-Seine). This criticism regularly has echoes in the media (like the daily nespapers Libération, Le Monde, the edition of Hauts-de-Seine of Le Parisien and the news magazine L'Express (France)|L'Express, which made a coverstory of it at the end of 2005).

In September 2005, Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud announced his intention to become mayor again, instead of his daughter. However, his daughter refused to resign. A lot of fixing was needed, in particular in the Municipal council (reported in a dispatch of the Agence France-Presse|AFP of November 21, 2005).

Municipal administration

The mayors of Puteaux:
Roque de Fillol (in 1871).
Jean Nennig (1945-1947).
Roger Deniau (1947-1948).
Georges Dardel (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière|SFIO) (1948-1969).
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud (1969-2004).
Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud (since 2004).

Notable natives

Léon Levavasseur, aviator, in 1906 he founded, together with Jules Gastambide, Antoinette, a manufacturing firm of plane engines.
Jacques Villon, painter, founder of the Puteaux Group, which included Jacques Villon, František Kupka, Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, Francis Picabia and Fernand Léger.
František Kupka, painter.
Jean-Baptiste Lully, composer.
Vincenzo Bellini, composer of the opera Norma (opera)|Norma.
Arletty, actress.
Nadine de Rothschild, born Lhopitalier.
Gérard Cousin (1961-2005), truck driver and radio DJ.

Transport

Puteaux is served by Puteaux (SNCF)|Puteaux station on the Transilien La Défense and Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail lines.

Puteaux is also served by Esplanade de la Défense (Paris Metro)|Esplanade de la Défense station on Paris Metro Line 1|Paris Metro line 1, in the business district of La Défense, as well as by La Défense (Paris Metro, RER, and Transilien)|La Défense station, a large interchange station on Paris Metro line 1, on Paris RER A|RER line A, on the Transilien La Défense suburban rail line, and on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.
Puteaux is also served by the T2 (tramway 2), in the La défense-Issy-val de seine line.

Old street names

! Current name
! Old name
|-
| rue Bernard-Palissy
| rue Charles X
|-
| rue du bicentenaire
| avenue du centenaire
|-
| quai de Dion-Bouton
| quai National
|-
| rue Jean-Jaurès
| rue de Paris
|-
| rue des Pavillons
| rue des Coutures
|-
| place Stalingrad
| place du marché
|-
| rue de Verdun
| rue de Neuilly
|-
| rue de Denain
| rue Fernand Pelloutier
|}

Twin towns

Puteaux is town twinning|twinned with:
Braga, since 2001.
Esch-sur-Alzette, since 1956.
Gan Yavne, since 1973.
Kati, Mali since 1985.
Mödling, since 1956.
Offenbach, Hesse|Offenbach, since 1955.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets, one of London's boroughs, since 1955.
Velletri, since 1958.

Zemun, since 1956

External links

This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Puteaux". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.