Quartier des Épinettes

thumb|17th arrondissement thumb|The Cité des Fleurs in winter Épinettes () is a neighborhood of Paris, a part of the 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded by the Avenue de Clichy, the Avenue de Saint-Ouen and the boundaries of Paris in the North.

==History== Epinettes were part of Batignolles, an independent village outside Paris, until 1860 when the emperor Napoleon III annexed it to the capital. An agricultural area until the middle of the 19th century, it then evolved into an industrial district, with several factories such as those of Ernest Goüin. Housings were built in typical Parisian style, with a majority of Haussmannian buildings. The Cité des Fleurs, a picturesque pedestrian street with small houses with gardens in the heart of the city, is also built at that time. thumb|Statue in the Square des Épinettes Like the neighbouring Batignolles, Epinettes, especially the south-western part (Brochant & La Fourche) was strongly linked to impressionism. The "groupe des Batignolles" met in Café Guerbois or at Chez le père Lathuille, avenue de Clichy. Famous writer Émile Zola lived also in the district, as did painter Alfred Sisley in the Cité des Fleurs (City of the Flowers) or poet Jules Laforgue.