Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former Poulain de Blois chocolate factory, originally called the Villette or Poulainville factory, was founded by Victor-Auguste Poulain in 1848. First installed in the former residence of the prestidigitator Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (4 rue Porte-Chartraine), Poulain launched his brand and acquired in 1851 his first chocolate grinding machine. Between 1862 and 1872 his son Auguste Poulain built a first factory on the site of the Villette, including a production building (1867) and a family castle (1872) overlooking the whole. The latter, designed as an architectural symbol, allows to monitor the surrounding workshops, organised around a large central driveway.

In 1879, in the face of growing demand, a new workshop was added. In 1884 Albert Poulain, taking over the company, built the Beauséjour factory on the same site. This one, destroyed by a fire in July 1918, was rebuilt in the same year with modern techniques of reinforced concrete (Hennebique system), characterized by flared columns. These innovations, visible in the Gambetta Street workshop (1919-1920), are an early testimony of French industrialization.

Chocolate production left Blois in 1991 for Villebarou, and the Beauséjour factory was demolished in 1995. The remaining buildings, including the Château de la Villette and the 1919-1920 workshop, were partially classified as historical monuments in 1997. Today, the site houses INSA Centre-Val de Loire, a school of engineers founded in 1993, while the facades and roofs of the historic workshops (1864, 1867) and the employers' castle remain protected, symbolizing Blois' industrial heritage.

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