Fontaine de La Croix Paris

Fontaine de La Croix Paris

A roundabout folie

Paul from Paris

About me I studied Visual Communications and also Design Writing & Criticism to masters degree level. And my career pathways have spanned the advertising sector and design education. Apart from Paris, it's London, Birmingham and Brussels that have also been places I've called home. I'm currently working as a transcriber for Arte Reportage, continue to make typographic artwor...
""Fontaine de La Croix" in Paris is a folie that's a street relic of a roundabout with many bizarre details that make it very attractive to me..."

As folies go, Paris has its fair share of them, and for folie-hunters the corner of Rue de L’Arbre Sec and Rue Saint Honoré is riddled with folie after folie, easily missed in the hubbub of simply getting from A to B.

First up is this street relic of a roundabout (pictured), which for me each time I see it conjures up the odour of Paris’s early medieval pestilence and its associated sounds.

Then there’s an obscure drinking-water fountain, Fontaine de La Croix du Trahoir; and although Paris takes pride in its free-to-access public drinking water fountains, this is one more for ogling at for the erudite features of a dog-like human head from which the water pours.

Finally, there’s the decorative relief on the building itself which takes on the form of hand-moulded stalactites shown to be dripping from the first window level of the building’s edifice. Across the street is where you’ll find access to an equally bizarre space, continuing a journey into Paris’s odd nooks and crannies.

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Paris Spotter Paul

About me I studied Visual Communications and also Design Writing & Criticism to masters degree level. And my career pathways have spanned the advertising sector and design education. Apart from Paris, it's London, Birmingham and Brussels that have also been places I've called home. I'm currently working as a transcriber for Arte Reportage, continue to make typographic artwork and produce a bi-weekly radio show on World Radio Paris called #urbanstates which gives portraits of city projects which I think make the city a better place to be. Why Paris? Par...

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Rue de l'Arbre Sec 27

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Oct 14, 2025

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