Chambres de bonne

n. – maid’s rooms
The top floors of virtually all the old apartment buildings in Paris are made up of small rooms that once housed the maids. The British have their own system referring to them as the servant’s quarters. In any event, it’s a concept that’s a bit dated to say the least.

Here the chambres de bonne, despite their often spectacular views for those with windows large enough to look out of, are tiny rooms sometimes only large enough to fit a bed. Because they’re often located directly under the eaves, they can be stiflingly hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. In other words, they were not built as places of comfort, but rather simply created to function as rudimentary shelter for the staff.

When I think of the name chambre de bonne, I can’t help thinking it would be a great title and topic for a horror movie with the subtitle – “The Maid’s Room” said in that ominous horror movie trailer voice. Both the apartments we’ve lived in have them. Sometimes owners will incorporate them into their own larger apartments. Our neighbours here use theirs as their bedroom. But often times they are rented out separately mostly to students because they’re the only ones with the energy to climb the six, seven or eight flights of stairs depending on the height of the buildings. You see the chambres de bonne usually can’t be accessed by the elevator in buildings that have one, as they have their own separate stairwell access. This is why most of the apartments have a service door usually located in the kitchen where the maids could once go in and out.

Our service door was walled over when our landlord renovated. So if I wanted to access the chambres de bonne, I would have to go down to the ground floor and take the stairs all the way back up to the 8th floor where they are located just above us. Fortunately, the ones above us are not directly overhead so we still have the sense of being on the top floor ourselves.

I went up to explore the chambres de bonne in our last building, which was a mistake. The back stairs were dimply lit, dirty and frankly quite scary. When I reached the top, it reminded me of something out of The Shining with a long hallway and lots of doors. Some people have combined chambres de bonne allowing for more space and even the ability to rig plumbing etc. But for the ones that remain only as big as a bed, there is a shared bathroom in the hallway.

It’s illegal to rent out something under 6 square meters or roughly 60 square feet (with good reason!), but many can be about that size and a blind eye is turned. So while some of them might be creepy, they are character building and I suppose it affords the luxury of living in Paris to those who can’t pay the steep rents. Also again for most, there is a view over Paris that is unbeatable. So that is well deserved for all the flights of stairs, the heat, the cold and the cramped space because a view over Paris can make one forget many a hardship. I would take a chambre de bonne with a view over a larger apartment with none. But luckily for me, my student days are over so that’s a choice I no longer have to make.