Galerie Véro-Dodat

Benoît Véro was a pork butcher who did well enough to buy, in 1819, an eighteenth-century mansion on the rue du Bouloi. With a partner, François Dodat (sources call him a butcher too, or a financier), he cleared a way through the property to the rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, lined it with shops and lodgings, and opened it in 1826. It was a speculation typical of the Restoration, and it was well placed: the coaching office of the Messageries Laffitte et Caillard stood on the rue du Bouloi, and travellers waiting for a departure had time to kill.

The passage is short, straight and low, and its makers made the most of it. The black and white floor tiles run on the diagonal; the richly decorated shopfronts keep a single strict horizontal line from end to end; the ceiling alternates glass with painted panels. The effect is of a corridor longer than it is, a small piece of theatre in perspective.

From 1829 the print-seller Gabriel Aubert, brother-in-law and partner of Charles Philipon, kept his caricature shop here. Philipon’s papers, La Caricature and then Le Charivari, mocked Louis-Philippe without mercy, and a fresh sheet went up in Aubert’s window every day for those who could not afford a subscription. A lithograph by Traviès shows the crowd pressing against the glass; Daumier’s prints hung there almost wet. Later, from 1838 to 1842, the great tragic actress Rachel lived in the gallery, and Alfred de Musset came calling.

Then the trade moved on. The gallery survived largely because nobody bothered to rebuild it, and its façades, ceilings and floor were listed as a historic monument in 1965. The antiques and dolls of Robert Capia’s shop kept it known to collectors for four decades, a full restoration followed in 1997, and its shops are once again full.

What to look for

• The diagonal black and white floor, which makes the passage look longer.
• The unbroken horizontal line of the shopfronts, with lodgings in the attic storey above.
• The painted ceiling panels between the glazed bays.
• The two entrances, rue du Bouloi and rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, each with its own façade.

Timeline

1. 1819Benoît Véro buys the mansion on the rue du Bouloi
2. 1826Véro and Dodat open the gallery
3. 1829Aubert’s caricature shop opens in the gallery
4. 1838The actress Rachel moves in (until 1842) (uncertain date)
5. 1965Façades, ceilings and floor listed as a historic monument
6. 1997Full restoration

Plaques within 250 m

• 4 Rue Croix Des Petits-Champs · 60 m

  CET IMMEUBLE GARDE LA MÉMOIRE DES SÉJOURS À PARIS(1880-1892) DES GRANDS TRAGÉDIENS ROUMAINS ARISTIZZA ROMANESCU(1854-1918),GRIGORE MANOLESCU(1857-1892)

• 1 Place De Valois · 180 m

  PARTI RÉPUBLICAIN RADICAL ET RADICAL SOCIALISTE BUREAU DU COMITÉ EXÉCUTIF

• 202 Rue Saint-Honoré · 190 m

  SUR CET EMPLACEMENT/S'ÉLEVAIT LE THEATRE/DE L'ACADEMIE ROYALE/DE MUSIQUE/CONSTRUIT/DE 1763 A 1770/PAR PIERRE LOUIS MOREAU/MAITRE GÉNÉRAL/DES BATIMENTS DE LA VILLE/INCENDIÉ/LE 8 JUIN 1781

• Bourse Du Commerce · 200 m

  IN BASI TURRIS HUJUS ET REGIARUM AEDIUM RELIQUIS EXISTANTIS QUOD INSIGNE OPUS A JOHANNE BULLANT ARCHITECTO ANNO POST J.C. 1572 AEDIFICATUM ANNO AUTEM 1794 DESTRUCTUM UT IN FRUMENTARIAS NUNDINAS CONVERSUM UT UTILITATE CIVIUM ET HUJUSCE FORI ORNAMENTO PRAEFECTUS ET AEDILES FONTEM INSTAURAVIRUNT ANNO MDCCCXII

• 96 Rue Saint-Honoré · 200 m

  CETTE MAISON A ÉTÉ CONSTRUITE SUR L'EMPLACEMENT DE CELLE OÙ EST NÉ MOLIÈRE LE 15 JANVIER 1622. CONTRAT DE MARIAGE DE J.POQUELIN ET DE MARIE CRESSÉ 22 FÉVRIER 1621 MARIÉ LE 27 AVRIL SUIVANT(REGISTRE ST-EUSTACHE). ACTE DE BAPTÊME DE MOLIÈRE 15 JANVIER 1622 INVENTAIRE NOTARIÉ APRÈS LE DÉCÈS DE MARIE CRESSÉ 15-31 JANVIER 1633

• Conseil D'état Place Du Palais-Royal · 210 m

  ICI S’ELEVAIT / LA SALLE DE SPECTACLE / DU PALAIS CARDINAL / INAUGUREE EN 1641 / OCCUPEE PAR LA TROUPE / DE MOLIERE / DE 1661 A 1673 / ET PAR L’ACADEMIE ROYALE / DE MUSIQUE / DEPUIS 1673 / JUSQU’À L’INCENDIE DE 1764

• 111 Rue Saint-Honoré · 220 m

  FONTAINE DE LA CROIX DU TRAHOIR ÉDIFIÉE SOUS FRANÇOIS I RECONSTRUITE EN 1775. SOUFFLOT ARCHITECTE, BOIZOT SCULPTEUR

• 11 Rue De Valois · 220 m

  ICI SE TROUVAIT DE 1845 À 1852 LE THÉÂTRE DES SOIRÉES FANTASTIQUES FONDÉ PAR JEAN EUGÈNE ROBERT-HOUDIN RÉNOVATEUR DE LA PRESTIGITATION CRÉATEUR DES AUTOMATES ET DE NOMBREUX APPAREILS SCIENTIFIQUES. BLOIS 18- SAINT- GERVAIS PRÈS BLOIS 1879. HOMMAGE DE L'ASSOCIATION SYNDICALE DES ARTISTES PRESTIDIGITATEURS MAI 1935

Commemorative plaques, Ville de Paris open data (ODbL); transcriptions as published, in French. 10 in all within this radius.

Sources

• Ministère de la Culture, POP (Mérimée): Passage Véro-Dodat, PA00085995
• Ville de Paris: Découvrez la magie des galeries et passages couverts parisiens
• Daumier Register: La Caricature
• Rijksmuseum: Crowd before the window of the publisher Aubert (Traviès)
• Wikipédia: Galerie Véro-Dodat
• Wikidata Q1373064 (coordinates, CC0)
• Base Mérimée PA00085995