The district owes its name to rue Noailles, created at the same time as the Canebière, in 1666. Located between the course Saint-Louis and the gate of the ramparts, this road was then inhabited by large families who gave it its first name, rue des Nobles. The builder of galleys, Jean-Baptiste Chabert, built there in 1679 a mansion which he rents to Jacques de Noailles, lieutenant of the galleys. The name of the latter remained attached to the street, to the square which extends it and to the gate of the ramparts until their demolition. He's still the one in the neighborhood. The history of the district is above all that of the Capuchin convent and rue Noailles. In 1665, the monks of the mendicant Capuchin order set up their convent on land purchased in 1579 by Catherine de Medici on the site of the current Capuchin market.
In 1791, the convent was declared national property, the monks were expelled, the buildings and land allocated and sold. Of their presence, only the names of the Capucins market and the rue Longue-des-Capucins remain.
Rue Noailles was an aristocratic street until the end of the XNUMXth century. Besides theHôtel de Noailles, there are two other beautiful XNUMXth century residences: the Hôtel de Manse (later Hôtel de Mazargues) and the Hôtel Mirabeau which Jean-Antoine Riqueti de Mirabeau had built when he sold his house in the square of lenche. The street then becomes bourgeois, hosting an elegant trade after the Revolution. With the development of traffic, wealthy merchants settled rue Saint-Ferreol and the Rue Noailles became crowded and very crowded. The municipality then decided to undertake its enlargement to the dimensions of the Canebière, which led to the disappearance of the street and the demolition of the beautiful 1860th century buildings located on the right side. Work began in XNUMX.
Today, Noailles is a popular district with many inhabitants of immigrant origin but also some unsanitary buildings.
Streets and monuments
Noailles station, located at the top of rue du Marché-des-Capucins, was originally a market hall built in 1837. Converted in 1887 into labor market, it has been called the “old labor exchange” since the opening of the new Marseille labor exchange. It now houses the premises of the departmental union Force Ouvrière. The Compagnie de la gare de l'Est installed the first tramway line underground, commissioned on December 23, 1893. It now provides access to the Noailles station of the Marseille metro and tramway as well as to the gallery of transport, a small museum that traces the history of Marseille transport. Noailles is home to a very large number of food shops (fruit and vegetables, butchers, fishmongers, exotic foods and spices, etc.) and Oriental or African products (crafts, fabrics, etc.), in particular rue du Marché-des-Capucins, rue Longue-des-Capucins, rue d'Aubagne and rue halle de la Croix. Some shops in the area are very old, notably theFather Blaize's Herbalist, rue Méolan since 1815, and the Emperor hardware created in 1827 rue d'Aubagne.
The former Grand Hotel de Noailles, located at 62-66, La Canebière, opened in the 1990th century, closed in the 2004s and was converted into a police station in XNUMX