“Today, the opulent street begins with a purveyor of cured meat (charcutier) and ends with a wine merchant; it is entirely lined with grocers. An apothecary distils rhubarb and aromatic wine with quinine on the ground floor of Guimard House; a seller of novelties shames the façade of the Fesch House with his sign. Where once lived great lords, there are now stores on the ground floor; on the first story, bankers: the alpha and omega of our modern society. […] Not that the Rue de la Chaussé d’Antin lacks for pretentions to aristocracy: it gives itself the airs of a grande dame; however, its neighbour, the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, looks disdainfully down on it from behind the Madeleine.“
Amédée Achard, « La rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin », in Louis Lurine (ed.), Les rues de Paris. Paris ancien et moderne : origines, histoire, monuments, costumes, mœurs, chroniques et traditions, Vol. I, Paris, Kugelmann, 1844
According to Monnier, furniture of the very latest fashion and elegant attire were the norm in the drawing rooms of the Chaussé d’Antin where finance and the grande bourgeoisie of Paris mingled. The wealth can be felt, though sometimes of recent vintage.
In this vast and brilliant room, an elegant company sits around the quadrille floor, whilst two ladies man the piano.