Census records and tenant registers

Source: the POPP database

Paris nominal census lists were only established from 1926 onwards. It is therefore impossible, through this source, to document earlier residents — which unfortunately excludes the golden period of Montmartre (1880-1914), during which Eugène Pottier (textile-design studio, 1880-1887) and probably Édouard Manet (Reichshoffen cycle, 1878-1879) lived at no. 34. For those figures, one must turn to other sources: senders' addresses on correspondence, mentions in trade directories, publishers' archives, civil registry records.

The POPP database (project for OCR digitisation of Paris population census records) was brought online in October 2025 by the Paris Archives in partnership with the CNRS/LARHRA and the University of Rouen (LITIS). It offers automatic indexation with a recognition rate of about 85% — which implies that some names may be distorted (alternative spellings shown in the table below: "HEDAL/HEDOL", "HOUS CLIVIER/HOUS OLIVIER", "LEFLAY/LEPLAY", "MAFILLE/MOFILLE").

Summary table of recorded residents

Les Multiple occurrences of the same person across several years indicate a stable residence under a long-term lease. They are highlighted in the table below (rows in bold).

Sociological reading

A mixed bourgeois-working-class building

The table draws the portrait of a socially composite Parisian building: mostly French profiles (employees, shopkeepers, skilled workers), punctuated by a few families of foreign origin — Kordick, Marus, Heirvegh, Rohde, Peyer — from Central and Eastern Europe. This last finding is consistent with the sociology of the neighbourhood: Pigalle / Montmartre was, between the wars, a major centre of Slavic, Czech and Central European Jewish immigration (one thinks for example of Hella Guth, the Czech painter, who would later settle at no. 34 between 1951 and 1992).

Remarkable rental stability

Fifteen families appear in two or three consecutive census records — which suggests long-term leases and a certain residential permanence. Among these, Cullot, Delanier, Hure, Le Berre, Mafille, Muzart, Quair, Rohde and Rozier appear in all three census records (1926-1931-1936), that is at least ten years of stable presence. This profile contradicts the image of a Pigalle that is only transient and nocturnal: it is also a working-class and lower-middle-class residential neighbourhood with long-term inhabitants.

A single aristocratic figure: the Jolivet de Colomby family (1931)

Amid this predominantly working- and middle-class population, one name stands out: JOLIVET DE COLOMBY, the only aristocratic family identified for the period. Three given names appear in the 1931 census — Juliette, Gérard and Bernard. Bernard most likely corresponds to Bernard Jolivet de Colomby (1909-2003), future baron and mayor of Barou-en-Auge (Calvados). The address served this family of the provincial nobility as a Parisian pied-à-terre — a common practice for the titled bourgeoisie maintaining a Paris address for high society life, higher education for their children, or business.

The special case of Georges Petit (1883-1960)

The opera singer Georges Petit (8 August 1883 — 21 March 1960) figures in the social genealogy of the building, but his name does not appear in the three 1926-1936 census records in the form "PETIT, Georges". A mention of "PETIT, Lydie" does appear in 1926 — without any kinship with Georges Petit being established for the moment from this source alone. Georges Petit's residence at no. 34 therefore remains to be documented through other channels: landlord's lease registers, professional directories (Lyric, Bottin, Lyric Artists' Association directory), SACEM archives, Paris civil registry. This investigation continues.

Limitations and perspectives

What the census records do not say

• Absence of nominal lists before 1926. The golden period of Montmartre (1880-1914) — which covers Manet, Pottier, Dargaud — is documented through other sources (correspondence, directories, press, commercial archives).
• No floor indication. The census records give the building address without details of the apartment occupied. To identify who lived on which floor, one must cross-reference with the landlord's lease registers (livre de loyers), which are rare but sometimes kept in private archives or at the Paris Archives (commercial sub-series).
• Residence vs. studio distinction. Many occupants of no. 34 — painters, photographers, sculptors — had only a working studio there (courtyard with 16 independent studios), without living there. They therefore do not appear in the population census records. This is notably the case of Eugène Pottier (studio 1880-1887) and probably of Pierre-Luc Feitu, Henri Marre, Sébastienne Marre.
• OCR gaps (~15% errors). Several names appear under uncertain spelling: HEDAL/HEDOL, HOUS CLIVIER/HOUS OLIVIER, KAUFMAM/Kaufmann, LEFLAY/LEPLAY, MAFILLE/MOFILLE. Verification against the originals held at the Paris Archives remains necessary to refine the data.

Complementary sources to explore

• Lease registers of no. 34 — if preserved by the successive owner or in private archives / Paris Archives (commercial sub-series).
• Didot-Bottin directories of Paris trade and industry (1880-1960) — to identify the artists and professionals based at the address.
• Directories of lyric artists and singing teachers — specifically for Georges Petit.
• Paris civil registry (birth, marriage, death certificates mentioning the address of 34 boulevard de Clichy).
• Census records before 1926 — global lists by city block, without names of individual inhabitants (Paris Archives, DM2 sub-series).

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