Montparnasse isn’t a picturesque district; every appealing side street seems to lead directly to a busy boulevard or else to the lowering, fifty-six storey Montparnasse Tower.  It’s not any easy place for a photographic ramble as the streets are clogged with parked cars but there’s a wealth of interesting detail to be discovered both at street level and way above.

 

 

The facade of this building on rue Boissonade is patterned in tapestry panels of brick between columns of the familiar pierre de Paris, with tall top floor windows showing that artists’ studios were an integral part of the design.  Like many buildings in the area dating from the end of the 19th century, after the relaxation of Haussman’s strict building code, this 1880 apartment building is a unique variation on a familiar theme.