The Gardien/Gardienne

The Gardien/Gardienne is the lady or gentleman who lives in the loge (their ground floor apartment which comes with their job and allows them to survey the comings and goings) and takes care of cleaning common parts of your building, post and delivery of parcels. Many are of Portugese origin as this was the role they adapted to and became known for as tides of immigrants arrived in France after WWII. Mine is Mme Da Silva and she is really young and friendly.

Make no mistake, the are an important person to have on your side if you are a tenant or an owner. They generally know all the important information about your building, the inhabitants and the neighbourhood. Make yourself known to them and a little present now and again will make your life 100% easier.

Don't call them the "concierge", it's not very politically correct - I'm not sure exactly why and a real French person couldn't tell me either - and it's usage has died out.

I'm determined to start documenting the faithful Gardien/ne of Paris before they disappear. Most buildings are getting rid of them because they are expensive and it means the building charges are higher for the owners. This is a project I've been thinking about over the years and I'm going to ask my friend David Mccairley for help because he's a great photographer.

Here is a great post from Rue Rude about her "treasure".