Quote:
Originally Posted by Proof Sheet
He speaks the truth when he says there are no sfr's in the City limits. Paris has a peripheque ring road that is based on the limits of the City itself. Within that area there are no sfr's, basically no gas stations, no drive-thrus etc. There are virtually also no buildings greater than 6 floors.
Once you get outside the City limits, you hit the ban lieu's where the commie blocks are and after about 10 or more km from the centre, you may start to see sfr's/row houses (usually with on street parking)
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your sentiment is correct, but your facts are pretty off base. Much of Paris is 8 floors (dropping to 4-6 on the smallest side streets or oldest buildings); but the top 1 or 2 floors are usually set back, and further confusion comes from the French practice of calling the 2nd floor above ground "le premier étage". There are also many sections that were rebuilt in the 60s and 70s that stretch up to twelve stories (a lot like the kind of stuff on Somerset St between Metcalfe and Cartier). here are examples of both building forms on opposite sides of the same street just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower (spin around the streetview):
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Paris...29.05,,0,-9.87 Gas stations can be found on the ground floors of buildings, often at or beside entrances to underground parking garages. And there are even a couple of curious corners of Paris, e.g., in Belleville and Montmartre, that have attached 2-3 storey houses with private gardens; see:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rue+d...40.71,,0,-4.18 and
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rue+d...112.5,,0,-4.28, respectively.
Update: I also forgot to note that larger and taller buildings have been going up over the last 15 years in a huge redevelopment scheme around Bercy in the southeast corner of the city.
Once you get outside the Périphérique you see all kinds of built forms, there's the Radiant City, Post-Stalinist and other (generally awful) styles of mega block apartments with all the social ills that stereotype le banlieu, but there are also suburban cities that have boulevards that look just like central Paris and are surrounded by smaller row houses and, yes, even single family homes. Look at:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=metro...2gDwOojXbyXm-A
This is Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, the first metro stop south of the Périph on Ligne 7, I don't know this area at all, I chose it completely at random. The Place above the station could be anywhere in Paris that has newer buildings constructed to the 'classic' form. Then move the streetview 2/3 blocks southwest and you're on a residential street with detached, semi- and attached family homes (and yes on street, or rather, on-sidewalk parking in the French village style):
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=9+Rue...rance&t=m&z=16
This is dense urban living to be sure, and these places probably cost a fortune (living in the Petite Couronne can even be more expensive than in central Paris because you can actually live in a house near a park, with a car, etc., but can still access around Paris on the Metro/RER/Tramway, with all the benefits comes all the cost).