[1] The philosopher Henri Lefebvre lived on the street and observed from his window the rhythms of everyday life at the intersection located behind the Centre Georges Pompidou.

It occupies a special place in the history of Paris, because it is the first street to pierce the medieval centre, during the reign of King Louis Philippe I, a few years before the great works of Baron Haussmann.

[citation needed] The prefect Rambuteau, at the request of residents,[3] decided in 1834 to create a street 13 metres (43 ft) wide, an important dimension for the time.

The centre of Paris had hitherto kept its medieval urban fabric composed mainly of narrow streets where traffic was difficult and hygiene was poor.

Taking office in 1833, a year after a major cholera epidemic, Rambuteau decided to implement the hygienist theories of the time by cutting a wide path through the centre of Paris.