Building - La maison Coignet

  • Historic site and monument
  • Historic patrimony
  • House
  • Contemporary
  • 19th C
  • Classified
72 rue Charles Michels, 93200 Saint-Denis
The director's house, known as Coignet, is reputed to be the oldest concrete house in France. Despite being added to the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments in June 1998, the house is slowly deteriorating.
Its mouldings, concrete balustrade and cornice make it a masterpiece of world architectural history. The man who built it was François Coignet, a Lyonnais industrialist, inventor of agglomerated concrete and promoter of its use using the pisé technique specific to his home region, the Lyonnais. In 1851, he set up a subsidiary of his company in Saint-Denis. In 1854, he registered a patent for "economical concrete" and opened a second factory. In 1853, for promotional purposes, he and the architect Théodore Lachez decided to build a house near his factory, made of artificial cement rubble.

Around 1860, this new process was used as far afield as England, to build houses that are still standing today. A commission of architects chaired by Henri Labrouste visited the house in 1855, and noted in the "annales de la construction de 1857" that all the work had been carried out in "pisé, moulé et massivé béton".

At 67 rue Charles Michels, the building built for the workers of the Coignet factory underwent a spectacular renovation in 2015.

Openings

Openings

All year 2025 - Open everyday

Location

Location

Building - La maison Coignet
72 rue Charles Michels, 93200 Saint-Denis

Environment

Environment
  • Close to a public transportation
  • Bus stop < 500 m
Updated on 20 February 2025 at 15:51
by Agence POP – Plaine commune vous Ouvre ses Portes
(Offer identifier : 6813433)
Report mistake