Square des Batignolles

Square des Batignolles

A typical vista in the Square des Batignolles
Length	231 m (758 ft)
Width	74 m (243 ft)
Arrondissement	17th
Quarter	Batignolles
From	Rue Cardinet
To	Rue des Moines
Construction
Denomination	7 May 1879

Coordinates: 48°53′15″N 2°18′59″E / 48.88750°N 2.31639°E / 48.88750; 2.31639

The Square des Batignolles, which covers 16,615 square metres of land (approximately four acres), is the largest green space in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Designed in the naturalistic English-garden style, it lies in the district (quartier) of Batignolles, near the new Parc Clichy-Batignolles.

The origin of the name "Batignolles" may be the Latin word, "batillus", meaning "mill", or, it may be derived from the Provençal word "bastidiole", meaning "small farmhouse".

Until the early nineteenth century, the area was largely deserted countryside with a few scattered farms. The square was established under the Second Empire, at the request of Baron Haussmann, who fulfilled the desire of Napoleon III to establish several English-style gardens in the capital. Napoleon III had acquired a taste for the English garden during his exile in England, prior to 1848.

The Square des Batignolles was created by Jean-Charles Alphand, assisted by the engineer, Jean Darcel, the architect, Gabriel Davioud, and the horticulturist, Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, on a tract of land that had been described as "a vast wasteland". This was the same team that had been assembled to design and execute the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris.