in the 12th century a leprosarium was founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of a marshy area near River Seine. It was ceded on 7 January 1632 to St. Vincent de Paul and the Congregation of the Mission he had founded. At this stage, in addition to being a headquarter for the congregation, it became a place of detention for people who had become an embarrassment to their families: an enclosure for "black sheep" who had brought disgrace to their relatives.[citation needed]
The prison was situated in the enclos Saint-Lazare, the largest enclosure in Paris until the end of the 18th century, between the Rue de Paradis to its south, the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis to its east, the Boulevard de la Chapelle to its north and the Rue Sainte-Anne to its west (today the Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière). Its site is now marked by the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.[citation needed]
The building was converted to prison at the time of the Reign of Terror in 1793, then a women's prison in the early 19th century, its land having been seized and re-allotted little by little since the Revolution. It was largely demolished in 1935, with the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris installing itself in the remaining buildings, where they remained until recently. Only the prison infirmary and chapel (built by Louis-Pierre Baltard in 1834) remain of the prison, with the latter to be seen in the square Alban-Satragne (107, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis) in the 10th arrondissement. The surviving remains of the Saint-Lazare prison were inscribed on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments in November 2005.[1]
^ARRETE N° 2005 - 2347 portant inscription au titre des monuments historiques de l'ensemble des bâtiments dus à l'architecte Louis-Pierre Baltard: les façades et toitures de l'ancienne infirmerie, le sol de la cour et la totalité de la chapelle de l'ancienne prison, devenue Hôpital Saint-Lazare, sis 1 à 5 square Alban-Satragne et 107 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis à PARIS (10ème); situés sur la parcelle n° 48 d'une contenance de 1 ha 03 a 12 ca, figurant au cadastre section AP et appartenant à la Ville de Paris. CONSIDERANT que les bâtiments subsistants de l'ancienne prison Saint-Lazare constituent l'un des rares exemples parisiens d'architecture néo-classique construits par Louis-Pierre Baltard et qu'à ce titre ils présentent un intérêt d'art et d'histoire suffisant pour en rendre désirable la préservation et les classer au titre de monuments historiques.
