Le Chabanais

"Le Chabanais" was one of the best known and most luxurious brothels in Paris, operating near the Louvre at 12 "rue Chabanais" from 1878 until 1946.

It was founded by the Irish-born Madame Kelly, who was closely associated with several members of the prestigious Jockey-Club de Paris. She sold shares in the profitable business to wealthy anonymous investors.Dirty Bertie's seat of pleasure, "The Times", 17 January 2004] The total cost of the establishment was reported to be the exorbitant sum of 1.7 million francs.Die Sphinx im Freudenhaus, "Süddeutsche Zeitung", 17 August 1996. de icon] The entrance hall was designed as a bare stone cave; the bedrooms were lavishly decorated, many in their own style: Moorish, Hindu, Japanese, Pompeii or in the style of Louis XVI. The Japanese room won a design prize at the 1900 World Fair in Paris.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a frequent visitor; he painted 16 tableaux for the house, now held in private collections. The poet Guy de Maupassant built a copy of the Moorish room in his mansion at the sea, so that he wouldn't have to miss it during his vacations. "Bertie", Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, often visited the "Chabanais" during the 1880s and 1890s. One room carried his coat of arms over the bed. The room contained a large copper tub with a half-woman-half-swan figurehead, which he liked to fill with champagne to bathe in with his prostitutes. (In 1951, after the closure of the brothel, Salvador Dalí would buy the tub for 112,000 francs.) Edward, heavily overweight, also had himself built a special "love seat" ("siege d'amour") in the brothel, allowing easy access for oral and other forms of sex with several participants.Storyville - Paris Brothel, BBC Four documentary, 2003]

The French government sometimes included a visit to the "Chabanais" as part of the program for foreign guests of state, disguising it as "visit with the President of the Senate" in the official program.

In the mid-1920s, "Le Chabanais" was overtaken by the "One Two Two" as the top luxury brothel in Paris. During the World War II German occupation of France, twenty top Paris brothels, including "Le Chabanais", "Le Sphinx" and the "One Two Two", were reserved by the Wehrmacht for German officers and collaborating Frenchmen.Die Schliessung der "Maisons closes" lag im Zug der Zeit, "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", 15 October 1996. de icon]

The French legal brothels, known as "maisons closes" or "maisons de tolerance", were closed by law in 1946, after a campaign by Marthe Richard. In a 2003 poll, nearly two thirds of the French favored re-opening legal brothels.Remembering the brothels the French want back, "Agence France Presse", 6 April 2003]

Today, the six-story building is used as an apartment house. The Musée de l'Erotisme in Pigalle devotes one floor to the "maisons closes". Prince Edward's love seat is exhibited there, as is "Polissons et galipettes", a collection of short erotic silent movies that were used to entertain brothel visitors, and copies of "Le Guide Rose", a contemporary brothel guide that also carried advertising. [http://www.metropoleparis.com/2004/903/904life.html A Nice Mix of Art, History and Sex] , "Metropole Paris", 16 January 2004] The 2003 BBC Four documentary "Storyville - Paris Brothel" describes the "maisons closes" and contains footage of the Chabanais. The 7-volume Petit Larousse encyclopedia of 1906 has an article on the "Chabanais".

ee also

* Prostitution in France

References

External links

* [http://www.curiositel.com/aubonheurdujour/portfolio/default.htm Contemporary photos of the Chabanais]
* [http://webmaster.erotissima.free.fr/maisonscloses/maisons.htm More photos, and description] fr icon
* [http://toffeewomble.blogspot.com/2005/06/entrance-to-le-chabanais.html Photo of the building's facade today]
* [http://toffeewomble.blogspot.com/2005/06/king-edwards-bizarre-love-seat.html Photo of Edward's love seat]