Versailles is the prefecture of the Yvelines and one of the towns most deeply marked by the history of France. Born of the will of Louis XIV, who moved the court and the government here in 1682, the town was built around its palace and its estate, on a regular plan of avenues radiating from the place d'Armes. The avenue de Paris, the avenue de Saint-Cloud and the avenue de Sceaux still trace the framework of the town today. That royal origin left a dense heritage: the palace and its gardens, the Saint-Louis cathedral, the Notre-Dame church, the Potager du Roi, the town houses of the older districts.
The town is organised around two historic districts inherited from royal town planning. On the right bank, the Notre-Dame district is built around the Notre-Dame market, created under Louis XIV and made up of four covered halls, and around the Rive Droite station, which reaches La Défense in about twenty minutes. On the left bank, the Saint-Louis district, around the cathedral and the Carrés Saint-Louis, keeps a fabric of shopping lanes and the proximity of the Potager du Roi. The Rive Gauche station, on RER line C, and the Chantiers station complete a dense rail service towards Paris and the western Paris region.
A heritage town, Versailles is also a living part of the Paris conurbation, driven by service-sector employment, public administration, education and tourism. Residential districts such as Clagny-Glatigny, Montreuil and Jussieu, on the edge of the Versailles forest, offer a setting sought after by families. To the south, the Satory plateau is undergoing a major transformation with an eco-district in development, due to be served by the Grand Paris Express. That combination of heritage, quality of life and connections to Paris sustains strong demand in one of the most expensive markets of the outer suburbs.
