Saint-Lazare () is a station on Line 3, Line 12, Line 13 and Line 14 of the Paris Métro. Line 9 also stops at Saint Augustin and RER E stops at Haussmann Saint Lazare. A tunnel connects both of these stations. Located on the border of the 8th and 9th arrondissements, it is the second busiest station of the Métro system after Gare du Nord with 39 million passengers annually.
The station offers connections to the following other stations: Gare Saint-Lazare (SNCF), Haussmann–Saint-Lazare on RER E, Havre – Caumartin on Line 3 and Line 9, in addition to Saint-Augustin on Line 9. The station is named after the mainline railway station, which is situated in Rue Saint-Lazare. It is in the commercial centre of Paris, near the major department stores.
Location
The station is located near the Paris-Saint-Lazare station, the platforms being established:
on line 3 (between Europe and Havre - Caumartin stations), under the Cour de Rome, along the northeast / southeast axis of Rue de Rome, flush with the ground above the line tunnel 13; on line 12 (between Trinité - d'Estienne d'Orves and Madeleine stations), on an east–west axis under Rue Saint-Lazare, between Place du Havre and Rue de Caumartin; on line 13 (between Liège and Miromesnil), aligned with the station on line 12 under the same street, between the Cour du Havre and the Cour de Rome, along the Hilton Paris Opéra hotel; on line 14 (Between Pont Cardinet and Madeleine), deep below the Cour de Rome, along a northeast / southwest axis.
History
The station opened on 14 October 1904, four days after the opening of the first section of Line 3 between Père Lachaise and Villiers.
The Line 12 platforms opened on 5 November 1910 as part of the Nord-Sud Company's Line A from Porte de Versailles to Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The Line 13 platforms opened on 26 February 1911 as part of the same company's Line B from Saint-Lazare to Porte de Saint-Ouen. It was the southern terminus of the line until 27 June 1973 when it was extended to Miromesnil. On 27 March 1931, the Nord-Sud Company was taken over by the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris and Line A became Line 12 of the Métro and Line B became Line 13.
On 12 July 1999, the RER station of Haussmann–Saint-Lazare was opened. On 16 December 2003, the Line 14 platforms were opened with the extension of the line from Madeleine. On the same day a corridor opened connecting to the station of Saint-Augustin on Line 9.
Passenger services
Access
The station has 11 entrances:
Entrance 1: Cour de Rome: escalators (entry and exit), staircase to the Cour de Rome. The access is equipped with a glass entrance (La Lentille) whose creator was Jean-Marie Charpentier; Entrance 2: Place du Havre: two staircases at 13 Place du Havre; Entrance 3: Passage du Havre: two staircases at 14 Place du Havre and direct access to the Passage du Havre shopping center; Entrance 4: Galerie des Marchands: escalators (entrance and exit) to the shopping mall in connecting with the SNCF station; Entrance 5: Rue Intérieur: Rue Intérieur (access to the SNCF station); Entrance 6: Place Gabriel-Péri: Place Gabriel-Péri; Entrance 7: Rue de l'Arcade: 62 Rue de l'Arcade (corner Rue de Rome); Entrance 8: Rue d'Amsterdam: a staircase opposite 2 Rue d'Amsterdam; Entrance 9: Cour du Havre: an escalator at the Cour du Havre exit; Entrance 10: Rue Caumartin: a staircase at 95-97 Rue Saint-Lazare; Entrance 11: Rue Saint-Lazare: 92 Rue Saint-Lazare.
Station layout
The platforms are connected by a mezzanine, which has entrances/exits to street level. The platforms are listed by line number.
Line 3
Line 12
Line 13
Line 14
Corridors
The ticket hall, or rotunda, located under the Place du Havre between the stations of lines 12 and 13 has been called "one of the architectural masterpieces of the Métro". It was designed by the architect Lucien Bechmann in the form of a large rotunda, a legacy of the former Nord-Sud company. Its metallic vault, comprises eight interlocking pillars, is adorned with mouldings and ceramic tiles with light brown and green motifs, while the vault is tiled in white with green friezes. Pillars regularly receive backlit advertising posters during certain event campaigns. Following a 2004 restoration of the pillars, only the vault itself is original.