4.9.14

A chimney in the Marais...


In my preceding post I mentioned a chimney. You can find it inside a surprising building (39, rue des Francs-Bourgeois). 

This is what the facade and entrance look like.


This was a factory built during the 1880’s, for La Société des Cendres, (The Ash Company). This company was created to handle dust sweep and “scrap” that was left after manufacturing of jewellery – some 500 jewellers, dentists, photographers, engravers... were associated in the creation of the company. The intention was to recover, platinum, gold, silver… . The activity continued here until 2002. The company still exists, now situated in a suburb – and is still the owner of the premises here.

However, today the place is now occupied by a Japanese clothing company (Uniqlo). The restoration of the building, severely surveyed by State Architects, has been done so that the major elements of the building have been saved, including the chimney. 


Furthermore, on a lower level, some elements from the former factory have also been saved and are exposed - all completed by explanatory texts, videos…



A blogger friend (his blog about Paris is remarkable) visited the place before the restoration works started. Here are some of his illustrations and here is a link to the posts (1) (2). … and what he also was able to then visit was the cellar below, where you again can find traces of the Philippe-Auguste Wall (see my previous posts). 

9 comments:

[G@ttoGiallo] said...

Hum oui, en effet, très bel endroit que - contrairement aux Blancs Manteaux, je ne connais pas. Bravo, comme d'hab, pour la richesse d'infos.

Virginia said...

I'm putting that on the list for the next trip! Very interesting post Peter! V

Jeanie said...

What a magnificent building, Peter! I'm so glad they were able to retain the original chimney and much of the feel of the building. France is wonderful that way.

obat ambeien alami said...

nice page and post i like your blog

martinealison said...

Bonjour cher Peter,

Après la longue pause estivale durant laquelle j'exposais mon travail à Gassin dans le Var, me revoilà ! Je suis très heureuse de te retrouver et de pouvoir à nouveau ouvrir la porte de ton univers...
Des photos généreuses et des bonnes explications pour me faire découvrir des lieux inconnus aujourd'hui !... Très intéressant.

✺ ❊ Je te fais de gros bisous ❊ ✺

martinealison said...

Ps : J'oubliais de te remercier pour l'excellent moment que je viens de passer avec tes précédentes publications que j'avais malheureusement manquées.
Bisous encore !

Anonymous said...


The entrance of the building does look like a hotel particulier....

The size of that chimney is scary.

Very interesting post.

Thank you.
Maria

claude said...

Est-ce là que mon Papa nous avait emmenés et où j'avais plein de lingots, par forcément d'or.
L'entrée est très belle et la reconversion n'est pas mal, mais mieux si elle avait été française.
Par contre, je suis ravie de la restauration.

stenote said...

Interesting blog, it reminds me of Le Marais in Paris, a fashionable district surrounded by the best clothes and food shops, and modern art galleries.
I tried to write a blog about it, hope you also like it: https://stenote.blogspot.com/2020/11/paris-at-le-marais.html