Quai d'Orléans was named after Gaston, the brother of Louis XIII. No. 18 is the hôtel Roland. No. 6 is a Polish museum and library.
Quai de Béthune, once Quai du Dauphin, named by the Revolutionists Quai de la Liberté, shows us seventeenth-century houses along its entire course. No. 32 was the home of the statesman Turgot in his youth--his father's house. Subterranean passages ran to the Seine from No. 30, and some other riverine houses. At No. 24, built by Le Vau, we find an interesting court, with fountain, etc.
Quai d'Anjou is another Orleans quay, for Gaston was duc d'Anjou. No. 1 is the splendid hôtel Lambert de Thorigny (_see_ p. 93). No. 5, the "petit hôtel Poisson de Marigny," brother of Mme de Pompadour. No. 7, began as part of the hôtel Lambert, and is now headquarters of the municipal bakery directors. Nos. 11, 13, hôtel of Louis Lambert de Thorigny. No. 17, hôtel Lauzun, husband of "La Grande Mademoiselle," in later times the habitation of several distinguished men of letters: Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier, etc. The society of the "Parisiens de Paris" bought it in 1904, a magnificent mansion, classed as "Monument historique," under State protection, therefore, in regard to its upkeep. Nos. 23 and 25 are built on staves over four old walls. No. 35 was built by Louis XIV's coachman.
We will start again from the south-western corner. Here in 1777, in the little riverside hamlet beyond Paris, a big factory was built, where was first made the disinfectant, of so universal use in France, known as _eau de Javel_. The Quai de Javel was constructed some fifty years later.
Quai de Grenelle, a rough road from the eighteenth century, was built at the same period. The Allée des Cygnes owes its name to the ancient Île des Cygnes, known in the sixteenth century and onwards as Île Maquerelle, or _mal querelle_, for the secluded islet on the Seine, joined later to the river-bank, offered a fine spot in those days for fights and quarrels. In the time of Louis XIV the islet was a public promenade, and the King had swans put there, hence its name.
Quai d'Orsay memorizing a famous parliamentary man of his day, Prévôt des Marchands, first constructed in the early years of the eighteenth century, was known from 1802 to 1815 as Quai Buonaparte. It extends far along the 7th arrondissement. There we see along its borders the bright gardens of the recently laid out park of the Champ de Mars, and numerous smart modern streets and avenues opening out of it. No. 105 is the State Garde-Meuble, its walls sheltering magnificent tapestries, and historic relics of the days of kings and emperors. At No. 99 were the imperial stables. No 97, Ministère du Travail. The Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (Foreign Office), at No. 37, is a modern structure. The Palais de la Présidence, at No. 35, dates from 1722. The Palais-Bourbon from the same date (_see_ p. 200).