Métro stations: Abbesses (type 2)

Guimard entered the competition to design Paris M�tro stations in 1896, failing to win but getting the job because the railway company’s president was attracted to the Art Nouveau style. He designed three types of station: a basic open one with steps and railings; another with enclosed and covered steps; and a third with complete pavilions.

The first type, of which 88 survive, was fashioned in various forms, the most interesting of which consists of railings with decorated ‘shields’ incorporating the letter M and an iron arch over the entrance which supports an enamelled sign flanked by ‘stalks’ blossoming into lamps (e.g. Cit�).

The second type consists of an iron frame with decorated enamelled lava panels and translucent wired glass; a ‘butterfly’ glass roof, supported from a central girder, over-sails the enclosure (e.g. Abbesses).

The third type, of which only Porte Dauphine survives, provides waiting rooms and has an enclosure like the second type but with more ample entrance arches and a roof consisting of tiered pyramidal sections reminiscent of covered market structures.

The stations, which were modular and conceived for mass production, were in production until 1913. Together with the Humbert de Romans auditorium (1897-1901; destroyed 1905), an enormous concert hall and chapel with elaborate decorations and fittings, the stations represented the most complete architectural expression of Art Nouveau in France.

Abbesses is a station on Paris M�tro Line 12, in the Montmartre district and the 18th arrondissement. It is the deepest station in the Paris M�tro, at 36 metres below ground, and is located on the western side of the butte of Montmartre.