[Photo Credit: Victoria Kastner]
Julia and her young charge, Sara Whitney, shared a single room in a French family’s flat while searching for a better residence. Julia wrote to her cousins on October 12, 1897: “How many fifth story, fourth story, places have been visited I don’t like to think, for boarders nearly always in this quarter seem to fall to those stories, probably [due to the fact] that the boarders have not very large purses.”
Their luck changed when Julia’s longtime mentor—architect Bernard Maybeck, and his wife Annie—arrived in Paris that fall: “Finally the Maybecks came and said the appartement under them was vacant [at 7, rue Honoré Chevalier], and if we would come there, they would let us have our company in their parlor – and though entirely free we could still say we were living with them. It seemed the pleasantest solution possible, so now it’s ours – It sounds extravagant to say one has four pretty rooms, kitchen, hall, big closets, fire places in each room, all with street views, but in reality it is no dearer than the one furnished room apiece at the Club or elsewhere – We have one chair for each room, and [only] the furniture absolutely necessary, – which will not make much housekeeping, – and will get our own breakfasts and dinners, with lunch out, as now – It’s the location which takes my especial feelings, right one block from San Sulpice, and half way between the Atelier and the Beaux Arts, the trains all right at hand, and a very healthy neighborhood.”
With the Maybecks nearby, Julia’s social life also improved, as she explained to the LeBruns on December 12, 1897: “The Maybecks and I have a piano together, – there are several who are studying singing, Miss Whitney has a very pleasant though not strong voice, an organist from home who is studying with Vedder at Saint Sulpice, and another who plays the flute well – With one or two of these it makes a pleasant ending of the week.”
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