Rare Photographs Capture Street Scenes of Paris in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Eugène Atget (1857-1927) was a French photographer noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris.

Eugène Atget roamed the streets with his bulky large format camera, systematically cataloguing turn-of-the-century Old Paris down to the very smallest details. His skilled, wonderfully atmospheric photos of Paris's parks, buildings, streets, store windows, prostitutes, workers, and even door handles are a joy to behold.

Boulevard de Strasbourg, 1912 © George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester

Cabaret au Tambour, 63 quai de la Tournelle, 5th arrondissement 1908 © Musée Carnavalet/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

Cabaret au port Salut, street vendor selling shellfish, rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques 5th arrondissement 1903 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/ Roger-Viollet/ TopFoto

Fireplace, Hôtel Matignon, formet Austrian embassy, 57 rue de Varenne, 7th arrondissement 1905 © Musée Carnavalet/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

Rue Hautefeuille, 6th arrondissement 1898 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville, 1921 © Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales

Shop sign, au Rémouleur on the corner of the rue des Nonnains-d'Hyères and rue de l'Hôtel-de-ville, 4th arrondissement July 1899 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

Spring, by the sculptor François Barois, jardin des Tuileries, 1st arrondissement, 1907 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

Street vendor, place Saint-Médard, 5th arrondissement Septembre 1898 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto

The former Collège de Chanac, 12 rue de Bièvre, 5th arrondissement August 1900 © Musée Carnavalet, Paris/Roger-Viollet/TopFoto