Invisible Bordeaux recently picked up a guide to south-western France published in 1925 to tie in with that year's Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The 350-page book comprised a number of advertisements which made me want to get out and about and see what could be made of them today. Starting out at the top of rue Sainte-Catherine, I was surprised to see that the jeweler's shop Mornier still exists although, as ever, the four-digit 1925 telephone number has probably been revised!
**The apparently massive Léveilley Frères furniture store on rue du Palais-Gallien is long gone. An office and apartment block has taken its place. 
**If this magnificent allées d'Orléans branch of the CCF (Crédit Commercial de France) looks unfamiliar, it is because a more modern building has taken its place. On the ground floor is a branch of HSBC; CCF was taken over by HSBC in 2000 and became HSBC France in 2005. The rue d'Orléans referred to in the ad was renamed rue Charles-Amoureux in 1929, a homage to the Bordeaux-born conductor who was the subject of a past Invisible Bordeaux article.
**Have you ever wondered who supplied wine to Sweden's King Gustav V? It was Chaigneau & Co. There are less barrels and horses on cours Martinique these days.
** With its 3 million readers, La Petite Gironde (which later evolved into Sud Ouest) claimed it was the "most important, complete and widespread" provincial newspaper on the market. Its base was on rue de Cheverus and is now a luxury mansionhouse and reception venue: Hôtel de la Tresne. 
**It would be quite an achievement these days to buy a van or tractor on cours de l'Intendance! The windows on the first and second floors were already bricked up in 1925. That was apparently a 19th-century method in order to pay less so-called "window tax". 
** This was just one of two of Banque Française de l'Afrique's two provincial branches (the other was in Marseille). The building now comprises an Air France outlet although, from the outside, it looks like most of the office units are currently vacant. As for the fountain visible on the 1925 picture, much has already been written about this subject on Invisible Bordeaux!
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