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Origin and history

The former Marcel Bloch factory, built between 1936 and 1939 in Deols near Châteauroux, embodies a bold synthesis between industrial functionality and aesthetic research. Designed by architect Georges Hennequin, a friend of Marcel Bloch (future Dassault), it combines a classic party — a court of honour monumentalized by portals and stairs — with modern innovations inspired by the Bauhaus and Amsterdam School. The workshops, characterized by glass rotundas and facades of red brick or coated concrete, reflect the rational organization of the series production of MBloch 151 and 152 hunters, manufactured from March 1939.

The site, located in the open field 3 km from Deols, met the guidelines of the Ministry of Air for strategic aeronautical production. The factory, employing up to 2,000 workers, was bombed in March 1944 by the Allies and rebuilt in the same way by Hennequin. After the war, it became SNCASO (Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest), before being converted into an airport industrial zone. The buildings, registered with the Historical Monuments in 1991, illustrate the industrial architecture of the 1930s, marking a dialogue between tradition and avant-garde.

The architectural ensemble is distinguished by its consistency despite its diversity: semicircular volumes in glass windows, sets of materials (brick, concrete, cement stone), and a contrasting chromatic palette. The flight track, accessible by stairs formerly lined with box boxes, highlighted the operational vocation of the site. Today, the workshops and offices, preserved in their original state, house industrial and tertiary activities under the management of the Indre Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The factory remains a major testimony to the technical and architectural innovation of the inter-war period in France.

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