A stay in Paris: discovering its industrial heritage

In Paris, we know the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Seine … in short the postcard! What we know less is that the capital was also a very dynamic industrial city. Like the Grand Palais, which was once a railway station, many Parisian buildings are the result of a post-industrial rehabilitation. The team of your hotel in the 10th district of Paris, left in the footsteps of this past through the sometimes forgotten streets of the capital.

At 42 Rue d’Avron, in the 20th district, you will come across an old sign above a porch overlooking an inner courtyard and an old workshop. It reads “Fabricating and repairing tapestry-bedding (…) Mosca house”. Liquidated by the Commercial Court of Paris in 2016, Mosca house is a vestige of the industrial past of the capital. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th century, the district welcomes cabinet makers, moving companies or even a clothing factory. Halfway between industry and craftsmanship, the former bedding and tapestry factory, recognizable by its glass roof and fireplace, is today occupied by new housing of high standing.

In the street Jacques Louvel-Tessier, former Corbeau street, two old industrial buildings face each other. The former was once the headquarters of the Parisian Lithography, when the other housed the temple’s electric substation. On the pediment of the two buildings one can still admire the old signs. In operation until the 1990s, printing has now disappeared. Only its iron and brick façade dates from 1923 and now houses an art gallery. Opposite, you can observe, embedded in a brick masonry, the magnificent glazed façade of the electrical transformation facilities realized by Paul Frissé. The building was included in the inventory of historic monuments in 1992. It now hosts an emergency center managed by Emmaus.

The corsets factory: Claverie, located at 234 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, is a must see. Left in its “juice”, one can still observe its old shop windows, its monumental staircase, its counters and its gilded chandeliers as well as its stained glass windows.
Classified as a historical monument in 1921, and easily accessible from your Parisian hotel in the 10th arrondissement, the place deserves to be visited.
For several decades, corsets, girdles or fine lingerie will come out of the factory.
Today, the company no longer exists, but the workshop serves as a setting for many period films.