Levallois-Perret

Levallois-Perret
The town hall of Levallois-Perret
Coat of arms
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Hauts-de-Seine
Arrondissement	Nanterre
Canton	2 cantons
Government
• Mayor	Patrick Balkany
Area1	2.41 km2 (0.93 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	63,643
• Density	26,000/km2 (68,000/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	92044 / 92300
Elevation	23–34 m (75–112 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Levallois-Perret (IPA: [lə.va.lwa.pɛ.ʁɛ]) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.4 km (4.0 mi) from the centre of Paris.

Name

The name Levallois-Perret comes from two housing developments, Champerret (started by landowner Jean-Jacques Perret in 1822) and Village Levallois (founded by developer Nicolas-Eugène Levallois in 1845), and which resulted in the incorporation of the commune (see history section below).

History

On the territory of what is now Levallois-Perret there existed before the French Revolution the village of Villiers and the hamlet of Courcelles (or La Planchette), which gave their names to two Paris Métro stations. At the time of the creation of French communes during the French Revolution, these were part of the commune of Clichy, while the commune of Neuilly-sur-Seine extended over what is now the south-western part of Levallois-Perret.

Landowner Jean-Jacques Perret started some housing developments in 1822 in the northeast of the commune of Neuilly-sur-Seine, in a place soon called Champerret ("champ perret" meaning "field of Perret"), which gave its name to one station of the Paris Métro. Later in 1845 Nicolas-Eugène Levallois started some housing developments for landowner André Noël on his land near La Planchette (in the commune of Clichy). The land developed by Nicolas-Eugène Levallois soon became known as the Village Levallois.

In the 1860s the Village Levallois and Champerret had grown to the point of forming a single built-up area. Several demands were made to the authorities for the incorporation of the area as a commune.

Typical street in Levallois

On 30 June 1866 the commune of Levallois-Perret was eventually created by detaching that part of the territory of Clichy where the Village Levallois stood and merging it with that part of the territory of Neuilly-sur-Seine where stood Champerret.

The Eiffel company had its factory in the city, and so the structure of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower were built there.

Levallois-Perret became an important centre of the early French automotive industry with the establishment of companies such as Clément-Bayard, Delage and coachbuilders Chapron and Faget & Varnet. Citroën purchased the Clément-Bayard factory and the famous Citroën 2CV was produced in Levallois for nearly forty years. Levallois-Perret was also an important centre of cosmetics industry in the early 20th century. It is also home to the large European commercial real estate company Atisreal and the conglomerate Alstom.

The northern part of the famous Ile de la Jatte in the river Seine where French impressionist painters created many of their masterpieces, is part of the commune of Levallois-Perret.

Part of the healthy Ouest Parisien, Levallois-Perret is the most densely populated commune of France and Europe.

Patrick Balkany has been mayor of the city for almost 20 years in a row ; and his wife Isabelle Balkany Smadja works for the municipality.

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Levallois-Perret in 1999 Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France 82.5% 17.5% Born in Overseas France Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants 0.9% 3.5% 4.4% 8.7% ¹This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. ²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Twin towns

• Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium
• The Schöneberg district, Berlin, Germany

Nearest municipalities

• Clichy
• Neuilly-sur-Seine
• Asnières-sur-Seine
• Courbevoie
• Paris

Administration

Levallois-Perret is divided into two cantons:

• Levallois-Perret-Nord (North), includes a part of Levallois-Perret and Clichy (pop: 40,400)
• Levallois-Perret-Sud (South), a part of Levallois-Perret (pop: 36,532)

Economy

Alstom has its headquarters in Levallois-Perret. Speed Rabbit Pizza also has its headquarters in the commune. EVA Air has its Paris office in Levallois-Perret. According to le journal du net, the debt per inhabitant of Levallois is 9,030 euros, the French record.

Previously Carrefour had its head office in Levallois-Perret.

Transport

Levallois-Perret is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 3: Louise Michel, Anatole France, and Pont de Levallois – Bécon.

It is also served by Clichy – Levallois station on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.

The municipality of Levallois-Perret operates two free bus lines circulating the town.

Sport

Levallois Sporting Club is one of the most important sports club in France with 14500 members. Among them you can find notable sportsperson like Teddy Riner, Gauthier Grumier and Gevrise Emane. During his youth Didier Drogba played for the football section, as Joakim Noah did for basket.

Coat of Arms

Levallois-Perret's Coat of Arms

The modern logo

The traditional coat of arms for the municipality puts emphasis on the importance of industry in the its history. The centre of the arms consists of a shield with red background; a yellow gearwheel in the bottom left and a yellow perfume diffuser in the top right represent the mechanical and perfume industries.

Three red bees, are depicted on a silver bend from the top left to bottom right of the shield, these are another symbol of work in the city, beekeeping taking place at the île de la Jatte. The coat of arms also has a wreath at the bottom around the shield and three castles topping the shield; both in yellow. VILLE DE / LEVALLOIS – PERRET, is inscribed in black letters above the coat of arms.

A cartoon-style bee is used in the modern emblem of the municipality.

Personalities

• Louis Trousselier (1881–1939), cyclist
• Freda Betti (1924-1979), opera singer married in Levallois-Perret in 1949
• Danièle Delorme (1926-2015), actress and film producer
• Pascal Lamy (1947), director-general of the World Trade Organization
• Clotilde Courau (1969), actress
• Olivier Besancenot (1974), politician
• Gauthier Diafutua (1985) footballer

See also

• Optique & Précision de Levallois
• Levallois technique
• Communes of the Hauts-de-Seine department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Levallois-Perret Official Website (French)
• Murals of Levallois-Perret (French)