City of Paris Dry Goods Co.
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The City of Paris Dry Goods Company was a high-end department store in San Francisco, California.
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[edit] Origins
The store had a rich history rooted in the 1849 California Gold Rush. The company was founded by Felix Verdier in May 1850 when he arrived in the San Francisco harbor on a chartered ship the Ville de Paris (City of Paris) loaded with silks, laces, fine wines, champagne and Cognac. Mr. Verdier had previously owned a silk-stocking manufacturer in Nimes, France. The citizens of San Francisco quickly surrounded the ship with rowboats and purchased all the goods without them ever being unloaded from the ship. Many purchases were made with bags of gold dust. Mr. Verdier quickly returned to France and loaded the ship bound for San Francisco arriving in 1851, where he opened a small waterfront store at 152 Kearney Street called the "City of Paris". The store’s motto was borrowed from the city seal of Paris, France; "Fluctuat nec mergitu" (“It floats and never sinks”). The store’s most notable location was built in 1896 on the corner of Geary and Stockton streets at Union Square.
[edit] San Francicso Earthquake
The building's interior burned in the firestorm following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The interior was rebuilt with an opulent central rotunda capped with a stained glass dome. The store reopened in 1909, moving from a temporary location in the Hobart Mansion on Van Ness Avenue. Also in 1909, the store established the tradition of placing a huge Christmas tree in the center of the rotunda, thereafter recognized as the city's official Christmas tree.
The City of Paris maintained a connection with French culture reflected in the store’s décor and merchandise. The Verdier Cellars stocked many fine French vintages and was the most extensive wine department of any American department store. At the time of Prohibition, the lower level of the store was redesigned as a French village and named Normandy Lane. This concept was borrowed by the across the street neighbor Macy’s California where the store’s lower level was similarly transformed and named Macy’s Cellar. Macy’s Cellar was later installed in other Macy divisions' locations. In 1961 when Julia Child and Simone Beck were promoting their just published Mastering the Art of French Cooking, they spent an entire day at the store doing cooking demonstrations. The bookseller Brentano's opened a branch within the City of Paris store; it became the largest bookstore west of Denver. The City of Paris had multiple branch stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
[edit] Closure
The City of Paris remained under the ownership and management of the Verdier family until it closed in March 1972. The store was not bankrupt, however it was losing money. The store building was purchased by Liberty House (Hawaii) and reopened as Liberty House at the City of Paris. Liberty House built a new store at Stockton and O’Farrell streets closing the City of Paris building in 1974. Despite being listed on the National Register of Historical Places, as a California Historical Landmark, and 66,000 gathered signatures of citizens who wanted the building preserved, the building was demolished in 1981. It was replaced with a new building designed by Philip Johnson for Neiman Marcus. The rotunda with the stained glass dome was preserved and installed in the new Neiman Marcus building.
[edit] Store locations
- San Francisco - 152 Kearney Street, 1850
- San Francisco - Grant Street, closed 1896
- San Francisco - Geary Street & Stockton Street, 1896-1906, 1909-1972
- San Francisco - Van Ness Avenue & Washington Street, 1906-1909 (temporary location in Hobart Mansion)
[edit] References:
- Birmingham, Nan Tilson, Store, copyright 1978, ISBN 0-399-11899-3
- Hendrickson, Robert, The Grand Emporiums, copyright 1980, ISBN 0-8128-6092-6
- Wilson, Carol Green, Gump’s Treasure Trade, copyright 1949
- Child, Julia, My Life in France, copyright 2006, page 233, ISBN 1-4000-4346-8
- Mahoney, John & Sloane, Leonard, The Great Merchants, copyright 1966, page 142
- Powell, Edith Hopps, San Francisco’s Heritage in Art Glass, copyright 1976, ISBN 0-87564-013-3
- Whitaker, Jan, Service and Style, copyright 2006, ISBN 0-312-32635-1
