Fort de Charenton is a fortification built in 1842 in the community of Maisons-Alfort, and part of the Paris defences planned by Adolphe Thiers.

Louis-Philippe, proclaimed king of the French in 1830, was convinced that the key to the defense of France was to prevent Paris from falling too easily into the hands of foreign armies, as in 1814.

The first project was presented to the Chambre des Députés at the beginning of 1833 by Marshal Soult, President of the Council and Minister of War.

The Left claimed that the fortifications were actually intended not to defend France, but to threaten Parisians if they revolted against the royal powers.

With the walls surrounding Paris a system of 16 detached forts was added, placed a few kilometers away as a first line of defence.

The fort was originally proposed for the plateau of Charenton-Saint-Maurice, where land was purchased, but the military administration changed its opinion and moved the project to its present site.

The hill finally chosen, the Butte de Gramont, had clear lines of fire, apart from the National Veterinary School of Alfort, to the northwest.

They will be two stories high above the ground floor and will be composed of a series of bays with a span of 6.5 metres, with two windows on each frontage They will be high of two stages above the ground floor, and will be composed d' a series of spans of 6,50 m width, informed by two windows on each façade, and are served two by two, three meters wide and leading directly to the principal façade.

Moreover, due to the span of the members, they would otherwise need to be especially heavy, so they have been augmented by bracing that permits a reduction in their dimension to those ordinarily found in commercially available timbers."

"[4]In 1930 barracks were built outside the fort to accommodate the 3rd cavalry group of the 1st Legion of the Mobile Republican Guard.

In 1914 the fort was occupied by the 32nd divisional regiment, which stayed until the Second World War, when it was sent to the front, and where it was practically destroyed in combat.

Presently the fort is occupied by various services of the directorate of the Ministry of the Interior and by the regional direction of the Gendarmerie for Ile-de-France.