"On nearly every weekday Beauford would walk to the American Express Office on the rue Scribe next to the Opéra to pick up his mail."
In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David Leeming paints a vivid picture of how essential this location was to Beauford's existence in Paris.
Beauford was heavily reliant on international mail to receive not only updates from friends and family in the U.S., but also money. Leeming reports that Beauford's dear friend Larry Calcagno always sent money with his letters, and he cites other friends and acquaintances that sent funds as well. Among them was Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who sent Beauford $50 (worth between $550 and $575 today) because he admired Beauford's work.
American Express opened its first foreign office at 6, rue Halévy in Paris in 1895. The company moved to the iconic address at Number 11 in 1905.
A New York Times article described 11, rue Scribe as "one of the most famous addresses in the world." It reported that in 1970, more than 5,000 tourists used American Express facilities daily and that the company processed 8,000 to 10,000 letters each day.
The office was closed in 2009.
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