A stroll on the Avenue

[Prof. Templeton]

On a warm spring day in 1944, a man strolled from his apartments on the 4^th floor of the building he was living in and proceeded up the avenue toward the giant archways at the end. The building he left was near the opposite end of the avenue by the rail station. In the middle of his walk he stopped for a seat beneath a large chestnut tree that lined the wide through-fare (indeed he believed it to be the widest in the city) and pondered the following bit of interesting information. The building he was staying at was on a street with more then twenty addresses but certainly fewer then five hundred and all numbered one, two, three, four, etc from start to finish. The sum of all the addresses from one right up to, and including, his were exactly half of the sum of all the addresses from one up to, and including, the last.

What is the man's name?

[superprismatic]

Josef Kieffer

[curr3nt]

I figure he was staying at 84 and there are 119 addresses. Who he is...? No clue

Edited October 16, 2012 by curr3nt

[Yoruichi-san]

General von Choltitz at L'Hotel Meurice? If it was fall, I would have said De Gaulle, but the spring before the liberation, the German high command supposedly occupied the buildings on the Place de la Concorde.

You had me at "giant archways" ;P

[Prof. Templeton]

Josef Kieffer

We have a winner. Well done!

[bonanova]

Nice puzzle. I'm in the dark. What is the back story?

[Prof. Templeton]

Nice puzzle. I'm in the dark. What is the back story?

Once the building's street number was found, it was then a matter of following the clues to find the street. Once the street was found one could determine who was living on the fourth floor at the date given.

The clues to determine the street were that it went from the giant archways to the rail station and the man believed it to be the widest in the city. Probably the most famous giant archways would be the Arche de Triompe in Paris. That city's wide chestnut tree lined avenue that goes between the Arche and Porte Dauphine station is Avenue Foch. A quick search of 84 Foch Avenue will give you the inhabitant of the fourth floor in the spring of 1944.

[Yoruichi-san]

Touche ;P.

[~andy~]

WOW, you guys too clever for me but i'm getting there, nice puzzle though