View source for Le Chabanais

{{short description|Brothel in Paris (1878–1946)}}
{{for|the village in south-western France|Chabanais}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox venue
| name                   = Le Chabanais
| nickname               = 
| native_name            = 
| native_name_lang       = 
| fullname               = 
| former names           = 
| image                  = 12ruechabanais.jpg
| image_size             = 
| image_alt              = 
| caption                = 12 rue Chabanais today
| address                = 12 rue Chabanais
| location               = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| pushpin_map            = France Paris
| pushpin_mapsize        = 
| pushpin_map_caption    = Location in Paris
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_relief         = yes
| coordinates            = {{coord|48|52|3.41|N|2|20|13.50|E|type:landmark_region:FR-75|display=inline,title}}
| type                   = 
| genre                  = 
| broke_ground           = 
| built                  = 
| opened                 = 1878
| renovated              = 
| expanded               = 
| closed                 = 1946
| demolished             = 
| owner                  = 
| operator               =  {{plainlist|
* Madame Kelly
* (Alexandrine Joannet)
}}
| surface                = 
| scoreboard             = 
| production             = 
| cost                   = 1.7 million francs
| seating_type           = 
| capacity               = 
| suites                 = 
| record_attendance      = 
}}
'''Le Chabanais''' was one of the best known and most luxurious [[brothel]]s in Paris, operating near the [[Louvre]] at 12 rue Chabanais from 1878 until 1946, when brothels were outlawed in France. It was founded by the Irish-born Madame Kelly, who was closely acquainted with several members at the [[Jockey-Club de Paris]]. Among the habitués were [[Edward VII|Albert, Prince of Wales]] (later Edward VII of the United Kingdom); [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]; [[Cary Grant]]; [[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Mae West]] and diplomatic guests of the French government.

==History==

==={{lang|fr|Belle Epoque}}===
<!--This was painted in ''La Fleur blanche'', not Le ''Chabanais''  [[File:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 012.jpg|thumb|''Au Salon de la rue des Moulins'' (1894) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]-->
The brothel, famous enough to warrant mentioning in the 7-volume {{lang|fr|[[Nouveau Larousse illustré]]}} encyclopaedia of 1904,<ref name=sz/> was founded by the Irish-born Madame Kelly (real name Alexandrine Joannet, or possibly Jouannet),<ref name="Le Parisien">{{cite web|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/espace-premium/air-du-temps/reperes-13-10-2013-3220319.php#xtref=https://www.google.co.uk/|title=Repères|date=13 October 2013|publisher=}}</ref> who was closely associated with several members at the prestigious [[Jockey-Club de Paris]].<ref name=sz/> She sold shares in the profitable business to wealthy anonymous investors.<ref name=times>Dirty Bertie's seat of pleasure, ''[[The Times]]'', 17 January 2004</ref> The total cost of the establishment was reported to be the exorbitant sum of 1.7 million [[franc]]s.<ref name=sz>Die Sphinx im Freudenhaus, ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]'', 17 August 1996. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The entrance hall was designed as a bare stone cave; the bedrooms were lavishly decorated, many in their own style: [[Moors|Moorish]], Hindu, Japanese, [[Pompeii]] and [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]. The Japanese room won a design prize at the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)|1900 World Fair in Paris]].<ref name=afp>Remembering the brothels the French want back, ''[[Agence France Presse]]'', 6 April 2003</ref> Madame Kelly died in 1899.<ref name="Le Parisien"/>

===Post-World War I===
In the mid-1920s, Le Chabanais was overtaken by the [[One-Two-Two]] as the top luxury brothel in Paris.

===World War II===
During the [[World War II]] [[German occupation of France during World War II|German occupation of France]], 20 top Paris brothels, including Le Chabanais, [[Le Sphinx]], [[One-Two-Two]], [[La Fleur blanche]] ([[:fr:La Fleur blanche|fr]]), La rue des Moulins, and Chez Marguerite, were reserved by the [[Wehrmacht]] for German officers and collaborating Frenchmen.<ref name=faz>Die Schliessung der "Maisons closes" lag im Zug der Zeit, ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]'', 15 October 1996. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The brothels flourished and [[Hermann Göring]] visited Le Chabanais, as is related in the 2009 two-volume book ''1940–1945 Années Erotiques'' by [[Patrick Buisson]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Matthew |title=French brothels 'flourished during the Nazi occupation' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/5256504/French-brothels-flourished-during-the-Nazi-occupation.html |access-date=15 November 2020 |work=The Telegraph |date=1 May 2009}}</ref><ref>Véronique Willemin, La Mondaine, histoire et archives de la Police des Mœurs, hoëbeke, 2009, {{p.|102}}.</ref>

===Post-World War II===
The French legal brothels, known as {{lang|fr|"maisons closes"}} or {{lang|fr|"maisons de tolérance"}}, were closed by law in 1946, after a campaign by [[Marthe Richard]]. The backlash against the brothels was in part due to their collaboration with the Germans.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} A 2002 survey showed that, despite the fact that 64% of French people thought that prostitution was "a degrading practice for the image and the dignity of the woman (or the man)", nearly two-thirds believed that reopening the brothels would be a good idea.<ref name=afp/><ref>[http://www.csa-fr.com/dataset/data2002/opi20021023d.htm Survey results] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424091048/http://www.csa-fr.com/dataset/data2002/opi20021023d.htm |date=24 April 2009 }}, CSA, 23 October 2002. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

===Closure and auction===
On 8 May 1951, the contents of La Chabanais were sold at auction by [[Maurice Rheims]], publicly revealing the furnishings, furniture and equipment including Edward VII's {{lang|fr|chaise de volupté}} and his copper champagne bath decorated with a [[sphinx]]. The bath was bought for 110,500 francs by the antiques dealer Jacob Street and was acquired in 1972 by [[Salvador Dalí]], who placed it in his room at the Hotel Meurice.<ref name="urp-20100625">{{cite web |url=http://urbantripparis.blogs-de-voyage.fr/archive/2010/06/25/le-chabanais-haut-lieu-de-la-galanterie1.html |title=Urban Trip Paris |access-date=23 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802040037/http://urbantripparis.blogs-de-voyage.fr/archive/2010/06/25/le-chabanais-haut-lieu-de-la-galanterie1.html |archive-date=2 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canesegas.com/canne.erotisme/chabanais.bw.html|title=Le chabanais, devenu centre touristique|first=Irene|last=Silberstein|website=www.canesegas.com}}</ref>

==Notable visitors==
The French government sometimes included a visit to Le Chabanais as part of the programme for foreign guests of state, disguising it as "visit with the President of the Senate" in the official programme at the opening of the [[Exposition Universelle (1889)|World's Fair in 1889]].<ref name=sz/><ref name="Toffee">{{cite web|url=http://toffeewomble.blogspot.com/2005/06/brothels-of-old-paris.html|title=The Brothels of Old Paris|last=Sean|date=1 June 2005|publisher=|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723021228/http://toffeewomble.blogspot.de/2005/06/brothels-of-old-paris.html |archive-date=23 July 2012}}</ref>

Prominent visitors included King [[Carlos I of Portugal]]; [[Jagatjit Singh|Jagatjit Singh, Maharaja of Kapurthala]]; writer [[Pierre Louÿs]]; [[Cary Grant]]; [[Humphrey Bogart]]; [[Mae West]]; [[Roscoe Arbuckle]], and [[Marlène Dietrich]] on the arm of [[Erich Maria Remarque]].<ref name="Toffee"/><ref name="Rousseau">{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/08/27/la-reine-amelie-une-francaise-au-portugal_3465112_3246.html|title=La reine Amélie, une Française au Portugal|website=Le Monde.fr|date=27 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=King Edward VII and Le Chabanais.|url=http://byronkho.com/blog/?p=1050|website=ByronKho|access-date=2 April 2018|date=15 May 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170202093822/http://byronkho.com/blog/?p=1050 |archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=indep/>

===Toulouse-Lautrec===
The artist [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]] was a frequent visitor; he painted 16 tableaux for the house, now held in private collections.<ref name=mp/>

===Guy de Maupassant===
The author [[Guy de Maupassant]] built a copy of the Moorish room in his mansion at the sea, so that he would not have to miss it during his vacations.

===Edward, Prince of Wales===
[[File:Edward VII caricature hi.jpg|thumb|350px|Caricature of Edward VII in Le Chabanais, published 1903 in {{lang|fr|L'indiscret}}]]
Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, who would later become King [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom]] (nicknamed "Bertie"), often visited during the 1880s and 1890s. One room carried his coat of arms over the bed and a large copper bath-tub with a half-woman-half-swan figurehead,<ref name=afp/> which he liked to fill with champagne and which, in 1951 after the closure, [[Salvador Dalí]] bought for 112,000 francs.<ref name=sz/><ref name=faz/> Edward, who was heavily overweight, also had a "[[love chair]]" ({{lang|fr|siège d'amour}}) manufactured by [[Louis Soubrier]], a cabinetmaker of the [[Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine]], allowing easy access for oral and other forms of sex with several participants.<ref name=times/><ref name=bbc>[[Storyville (television series)|Storyville]] – Paris Brothel, [[BBC Four]] documentary, 2003</ref>

==Modern usage==
Today, the six-story building previously housing Le Chabanais is used as an apartment house.

===Musée de l'Erotisme===
While it was open, the [[Museum of Eroticism|Musée de l'Erotisme]] in [[Quartier Pigalle|Pigalle]] devoted one floor to the {{lang|fr|maisons closes}}, exhibiting {{lang|fr|[[The Good Old Naughty Days|Polissons et galipettes]]}}, a collection of short erotic silent movies that were used to entertain brothel visitors, and copies of {{lang|fr|Le Guide Rose}}, a contemporary brothel guide that also carried advertising.<ref name=mp>[http://www.metropoleparis.com/2004/903/904life.html A Nice Mix of Art, History and Sex] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609200436/http://www.metropoleparis.com/2004/903/904life.html |date=9 June 2011 }}, ''Metropole Paris'', 16 January 2004</ref> The 2003 [[BBC Four]] documentary ''Storyville – Paris Brothel'' describes the {{lang|fr|maisons closes}} and contains footage of the Chabanais. A replica of Edward's love seat is exhibited in a Prague sex museum; the original was sold at auction in 1996 to a private party.<ref>Sean Thomas, [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/1953,news-comment,news-politics, Two's company, three's a sex throne], ''[[The First Post]]'', 6 December 2005</ref>

===Exhibition===
An exhibition about historical Paris brothels took place in a gallery across the street from the building at 12 rue Chabanais from November 2009 to January 2010.<ref name=indep>{{citation|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sin-city-show-celebrates-the-paris-brothel-that-was-loved-by-cary-grant-1815759.html|title=Sin city: show celebrates the Paris brothel that was loved by Cary Grant|author=Genevieve Roberts|date=6 November 2009|newspaper=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.ivyparisnews.com/2009/12/maisons-closes.html|title=Maisons Closes 1860– 1946|date=8 December 2009|work=VINGT Paris News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215190656/http://www.ivyparisnews.com/2009/12/maisons-closes.html|archive-date=15 December 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Prostitution in France]]
* [[Parisian Brothels]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.today/20070813204153/http://www.curiositel.com/aubonheurdujour/portfolio/default.htm Contemporary photos of the Chabanais]
* {{cite web|url=http://toffeewomble.blogspot.com/2005/06/entrance-to-le-chabanais.html |title=Photo of the building's facade today|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723085121/http://toffeewomble.blogspot.de/2005/06/entrance-to-le-chabanais.html|archive-date=23 July 2012 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://toffeewomble.blogspot.com/2005/06/king-edwards-bizarre-love-seat.html |title=Photo of Edward's love seat|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720011842/http://toffeewomble.blogspot.de/2005/06/king-edwards-bizarre-love-seat.html|archive-date=20 July 2012 }}

{{Prostitution in France|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chabanais, Le}}
[[Category:Brothels in Paris]]
[[Category:History of Paris]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Paris]]