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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Excelsior brewery, nicknamed "L'Excel" or "Le Flo", is an Art Nouveau-style French brewery located in Nancy, at the corner of Henri-Poincaré and Mazagran streets. Opened in February 1911 by Louis Moreau, brewer in Vézelise, she embodies the spirit of the great cafés of the Belle Époque, designed as a luxury showcase for her products. The building, the result of the collaboration of architects Lucien Weissenburger and Alexandre Mienville, contrasts with its exterior sobriety with a sumptuous interior room, decorated by the artists of the École de Nancy: Louis Majorelle, Jacques Grüber and Antonin Daum.

The interior decor, a late masterpiece of Art Nouveau, mixes stained glass from Grüber representing ferns and ginkgo biloba, mosaics of Pilgrim evoking stylized palms, and mahogany furniture from Cuba designed by Majorelle. Three hundred bright beaks of Daum, chandeliers and chiseled copper appliques illuminate a ceiling decorated with ferns. In 1976, the facades, roofs and the brasserie hall were classified as historical monuments after a mobilization to save the building from destruction in the 1970s, thanks in particular to the intervention of the auctioneer Maurice Rheims.

An Art Deco extension is carried out during the interwar period, including an entrance hall via Rue Henri-Poincaré and a staircase ramp signed Jean Prouvé. The basement houses toilets, old telephone booths and a vault with grey marble walls, marked with initials "MV" (Moreau-Vézelise). In 2022, an Art Nouveau fresco hidden behind a mirror, depicting naked characters, was rediscovered and restored, adding to the heritage wealth of the place.

The brewery has known several owners: the Moreau family (1910-1972), Stella Artois (1972-1986), the Flo group (1987-2016), and then a restorer-investor from Benin since 2016. His current logo uses the police, Arnold Böcklin, emblematic of Art Nouveau, recalling his artistic heritage and his role in the cultural life of the country for more than a century.

The Excelsior Brewery, listed as a historic monument in 1976, remains the last witness to the many hotels, restaurants and breweries born in the early 20th century in Nancy. Its architecture, combining Viennese rigour and Nancean plant curves, makes it a symbol of the École de Nancy and a must-see place of Art Nouveau heritage in France.

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