The Rue Saint-Honoré, of which the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is now an extension, began as a road extending west from the northern edge of the Louvre Palace. Saint Honoré, Honorius of Amiens, is the French patron saint of bakers.
History
Until the 18th century, a few villages were dispersed in a rural area that extended west of the Louvre. The main street (a dirt road) of Roule, one of the villages, became the Rue Neuve-Saint-Honoré; it was lined and surrounded by a few mansions. The passage was upgraded in the 12th century to accommodate the increasing traffic from Paris's central market, Les Halles, to the outer villages. (The market was moved in 1971 from the center of Paris to the suburb of Rungis.)
The road extended to the edge or gate of Paris. The passage was renamed Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré when the village became an official suburb of Paris; (foris burgem in Latin means "outside the city"). Originally, the passage extended to the Forêt de Rouvray ("oak forest"), which covered a vast area west of Paris. Remnants of it are the Bois de Boulogne, as well as the 5,100 ha Forêt Domaniale de la Londe-Rouvray in Normandy.
The Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré was incorporated into Paris's city limits in 1860.
Contemporary Paris
Depending on tradition, the reliable gauge of style in Paris and high style can be found along ten blocks of the Rue Saint-Honoré, from the Rue Cambon to the Rue des Pyramides.[1]
No. 22: The flagship store of Lanvin, initially established by Jeanne Lanvin in 1889, and located here as a couture establishment after several prior locations.
No. 24: The flagship store of Hermès, established in 1837 and located at the present address since 1880. No. 24 is also the headquarters of the Hermès Group[2]
No. 55: The Élysée Palace, originally the Hôtel d'Évreux, completed and decorated by 1722; where Napoleon signed his abdication in favor of his son on June 22, 1815; it is now the official residence of the President of the French Republic.
No. 56: The offices of the French edition of Vogue magazine in the Publications Condé Nast Building.
Galey, Bernard-Claude, Origines surprenantes des noms de villages, des noms des rues de Paris et de villes de province, Le Cherche Midi, Paris, 2004. ISBN978-2-7491-0192-7.
Stéphane, Bernard (author) & Giesbert, Franz-Olivier (Preface), Petite et Grande Histoire des rues de Paris, Albin Michel, Paris, 2000. ISBN978-2-226-10879-1.
Thorval, Anne, Promenades sur les lieux de l'histoire: D'Henri IV à Mai 68, les rues de Paris racontent l'histoire de France, Paragamme, Paris, 2004. ISBN978-2-84096-323-3.