Mystery photo - Can anybody guess what this depicts?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

What I will tell you:

>> This is a photo taken on Google Images Street View

>> There is something important about the location.

>> It has to do with what existed previously where the new apartment building stands.

>> What existed previously included a shop of some sort.

>> The location is in France.

>> It has nothing to do with Lava Lite or Crestworth!

Please add your guesses below. When someone guesses correctly or comes close enough, or if the guesses are all too far off, I'll explain. Suffice to say, there is history in this location, though I doubt anybody who lives or works there knows it. It was by complete chance that I was able to look this up, using information from an item unrelated (mostly) to those we would normally be thinking about when we think of this spot (assuming the "we" described knows what this spot is about.)

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Nobody...?

[Gwen Williams]

I am going to go with that it is where Craven Walker made the first working lava lamp.

[Brad]

i agree with gwen.  wasn't it a bar?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

I had the wrong shot. My apologies. New shot added, photo of across the street; I had no. 15 and I needed no. 16.

Not the pub where Walker found Mr. Dunnett's egg-timer-turned-lamp, nor the lab where Walker and a chemist friend developed the final product. Awesome guesses, though!

NEW HINT: The location is in France. Cleremont-Ferrand, specifically.

[Brad]

i have no clue, but from my search, i learned that french fries actually hail from belgium, and "frenching" means to cut something into thin strips before cooking.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Yup. And Belgian-style fries are the best out there, they have an unusual double-frying process.

It's really too bad this building, 16 Avenue de la Republique, has been demolished and replaced with an apartment block. It's too obscure for me to hold out hope that there's a photo of the old building poking around, but what used to be here, surely, was photographed by someone at some point? Perhaps some photographer in France, some box in an attic or archive, has a photo of what used to be here, though I'll probably never see it.

Next hint: This has nothing to do with Crestworth or Lava Lite. That should be an interesting twist.

[Brad]

i have absolutely no idea.

[Keith]

Boilers?  Is this where they were produced?

[Deb]

Former location of Kinetico Studios, makers of the Seven- Man Clock?

[Metallica Man Trevor]

The place France surrendered in every war.... Lol sorry!

[lava luva ~ Tiffany]

ohhh this is so interesting....

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

You win, Keith!

I found a brandy pipe (a snifter with a drinking stem) in a glass cup holder, with the pictured S. Vera label. Unlike the other S. Vera labels I've seen, this one says "artistic glass blower," has his full address, AND depicts a double fountain boiler! (See attached picture) The spot where this new apartment block stands was the location of S. Vera's shop.